Gamindustri: Revengeance
by 90k9
Summary: Neptune can (not) be redeemed.
1. Chapter 1: Neo Alpha

**Act 1: Iris Revival**

**Chapter 1: Neo Alpha.**

_~One week earlier, June 23, 29XX; 7:00 AM~_

_"Live and Learn! Hanging on the edge of tomorrow! Live and Learn! From the works of yesterday! Live and Learn! If you beg or-"_

*Slam*

Neptune slammed her palm against her alarm clock, shutting it off abruptly before rubbing her eyes and stretching her body widely. When she got out of her bed and stood up, she left out a zestful yawn and headed for the bathroom.

"Weird ass dream…" The CPU thought to herself… "Emo Nepgear (Who the hell is Nepgear?)… Excalibur… mom… simulations… Blanc… was my ex-girlfriend? I never even knew her that well! What else happened… oh yeah! 90k9… who the hell is that guy? What the hell am I dreaming about nowadays anyway?"

Every morning, Neptune would wash her face and take a shower, followed by a half hour of drying her hair and then choosing which of her hundreds the same parka dress to choose from. Afterwards, Neptune would go downstairs to the kitchen, which had a nice one way window to the city of Planeptune. Its futuristic buildings and complex infrastructure juxtaposed the very traditional and simplistic life she had when she grew up in Lowee, a country far from here.

With a nice and wide view of the city, Neptune had a table prepared with a nutritious breakfast prepared by her oracle, Histoire. The oracle acted as more of a secretary and an advisor for the CPU. Whether she was acting out of line, or needed a to-do list, the Oracle would be there for her to manage her time and activities. Histoire had the fortune of always being called the "Fun Police" whenever she had a job for Neptune. But she was also a counselor and a vital assistant for the Console Patron Unit.

"Mornin Histy… what's for breakfast?"

"I've prepped a salted omelet with mushrooms, bacon, and spinach. I've also brewed a coffee with minimal creamer and over 20 packets of sweetener."

"Just how I like it…" Neptune took a deep sigh before collapsing onto her diner chair and turning on the T.V in the corner of the room. "What's Famitsu got for us today?"

The Orange-Haired journalist was in the middle of a live report directly from the battlefield in the center of Gamindustri. A full on war between the countries Lastation and Leanbox. The two countries had been at war for at least a decade now, Planeptune's government has decided to remain neutral and refuses to trade or communicate with any of the warring nations.

_"This is Famitsu reporting in live from the trenches, as my camera man is showing, just merely 100 meters away is the line of Lastation_ _soldiers, who have been putting up a solid fight against Leanbox's infantry men for the past couple of months._" Famitsu walked up to a nearby soldier and asked him a few questions, mostly pertaining to how long the soldier had been serving how life on the front-lines was like.

"Those two countries are never going to stop going at it, are they?"

"Its in their blood I guess… this war is being fought over territory but there's going to be nothing left once the fighting's done. There's been talks of entering the war among Planeptune's government officials…" Histoire took a sip from her miniature coffee mug before looking down at her watch again "… hopefully its nothing more than just some ramblings among politicians and nothing too serious."

"Tell me about it… its bad enough they're issuing a draft for Planeptune citizens in the case of an invasion… but now they're straight up plastering war propaganda all over the streets." Neptune took one good look at the outer city, billboards and digital advertisements were plastered everywhere – all promoting for young individuals to join the military and to fight for their country. I admire the patriotism, but I think it's a bit over the top. But that's beside the point, what's on the agenda Histy?" Neptune swallowed her coffee whole and scarfed down her entire omelet in seconds.

Histoire was mildly taken aback but then looked back down at her tablet. "Well… there's been extra construction plans for the northwest part of the city the people are requesting you to aid in construction of the new buildings."

"Construction? Geez… that's the second most boring CPU job out of all of them, and it uses up a ton of shares… I've seen the blueprints, it's nothing the construction teams can't handle."

"Okay…" Histoire swiped away the construction request and scrolled down to the next task. "There's an order for some paperwork-"

Neptune didn't hesitate to wave away the request the moment she heard that paperwork was involved. "Skip it. The office workers here aren't paid for nothing"

Histoire, unsurprised by Neptune's actions, quickly skimmed on over to the next request. "There's sightings of a suspicious girl wandering Virtua forest. Monsters don't seem to attack her, and she always manages to run away from anyone who tries to get near her.

"Mysterious girl huh? That should be interesting. I'll take it, better than any of the other crap on that list…" Neptune put her plate away and headed for the balcony of the basilicom.

"Taking the express route again Neptune?"

"There's any other way?"

"Congress doesn't like it when you don't leave through the front doors!"

"And I don't like being told what to do, not all of us can get what we want Histy."

Neptune reached the edge of the balcony and stood on the edge of the railing. Looking down, she saw the vast traffic of a Planeptune highway below her, the sight nauseated her at first, but she clenched her fist and focused herself. "Keep the A.C on while I'm gone, it takes forever if I turn it off and and turn it back on later!" She turned around and waved one last time at Histoire before leaping off the edge.

"Oh that Neptune… what am I going to do with that rascal?"

As Neptune free fell to the traffic, Neptune closed her eyes and focused her share energy, first, a shroud of light covered her, she grew taller and parts of her armor flew and formed onto her. The light dissipated and Purple Heart emerged just in time before she hit the road as she activated her wings.

_~Virtua Forest, 7:30 AM~_

Purple Heart arrived at the forest and quickly transformed back into her human form. "Alright, this is where the job says this "Mysterious girl" is… not sure what I'm supposed to be seeing here… but whatever gets Histoire off my back for the while."

Neptune wandered around the forest for a good while, encountering the usual trash mob or dogoo that'd get crushed immediately.

Growing impatient and bored, Neptune was very tempted to return back to the basilicom and simply write of the reports as superstition or rumors, but before she could even transform back, she heard a faint voice calling out to her.

"Hey…Hey! Look out below!"

"The hell is… OH WHAT THE FU-"

*Crash*

Neptune found herself face first into the dirt. Regaining her bearings and pushing herself off the ground, she felt an immense weight dumped downward on her back.

"Sorry about thaaaaaaaaaat…"

"Who would've thought that girls falling for me would be a pain in the ass!? Who- Who are you?"

"Oh meeeeee? I'm Plutia… Nice to meet youuuu…"

"Are you drunk?" Neptune, perplexed and eluded by the very confusing and rather slow girl atop her, simply urged her to get off as she pushed herself off the ground.

"Drunk? Umm… I don't know… to be honest… I don't know a lot of things."

"Yeah… I can kinda tell. You uh… have some friends or family I can refer you to, Plutia?"

"Umm… no."

"Christ. Do you know where you are right now?"

"Umm… Planeptune?"

"Alright, Where _in_ Planeptune?"

"Umm… uh… Lowee?"

"Alright. I'm bringing you to the basilicom. Histoire will have to deal with you." Neptune transformed into her HDD form and carried her with both her arms, damsel style.

"Woah! How did you do that?"

"I'm CPU, you know what that- no, of course you don't"

"CPU? Is that some sort of computer device?"

"Well no, actually yes, but no."

"Is it yes or no?"

"No, but it would be right in a different context."

"What's context?"

"I'm going to drop you if you keep asking questions."

_~Planeptune, Basilicom 9:30 AM~_

"Well… that's definitely the girl that was described in the reports. Neptune, how did you come across this girl again?"

"I was wandering the forest, trying to find this broad, low and behold, she falls out of the sky and right onto me. I swear, it feels like this came straight outta some niche JRPG."

"Mhmm, Interesting. After talking to her for a bit I've concluded that she has amnesia. She clearly has no idea where she's from, who her family is, or why she was where she was to begin with."

"So she just ended up in the Virtua forest to begin with?"

"I don't know actually… there's a possibility of foul play but what would be the intent of dumping this seemingly innocent girl in the middle of nowhere?"

Neptune looked back at Plutia in the interrogation room and noticed her trying to examine the inside of a coffee mug, only to spill the its contents all over her dress.

"Well… maybe they might have a reason. Well, nonetheless, we can't just dump her off in the middle of nowhere… Histy?"

"You brought her here, you might as well take responsibility."

"Responsibility? The hell am I supposed to do? Feed her?"

"You're supposed to find out who she is."

"Ah- No. The report asked to check out the issue. Boom!" Neptune pointed toward Plutia, "Issues right there, and it's been checked out, her responsibility is on you."

"Well. Okay Neptune. I'll take care of Plutia... buuuuuut…" Histoire brought out a giant stack of papers that reached a few inches short of the ceiling. "You can take care of _this_ then."

Neptune looked up at the gargantuan stack of papers, and then looked back at Plutia. Reconciling her choices and calculating the best (or in her case, laziest) solution, she gave in and decided to take care of Plutia. "Fine, but you better not drop any more crap on me unless its hunting or piracy prevention quest."

"Yeah yeah Neptune, of course, now excuse me, I need to do your work for you…" Histoire picked up the stack of papers and smugly left the room.

"Umm… Ms. Neppy?"

"*Sigh* Yes Plutia?"

"Umm, the coffee stains are stuck in my dress… it really doesn't help that my clothes were kinda dirty to begin with…"

"Right… follow me…"

_~Planeptune Showers, 9:50 AM~_

Neptune and Plutia spent a good while in Planeptune's bathhouse sitting awkwardly away from each other, yet close enough to make each other out through the dense steam that masqueraded the room. Neither spoke a single word to each other; Neptune, out of annoyance, and Plutia, out of nervousness.

"Umm, Neppy, the body wash isn't coming out of the bottle"

"Have you tried opening the lid?" Neptune retorted in a rather rude manner.

"Well… um… I did, but its still not coming out!"

"Have you tried holding holding the bottle up-side down?"

"Yeah... that's what I'm doing right now… Neppy, does the bottle hate me?"

"I have no clue how you came to that conclusion."

"Well, if someone doesn't like opening up to new people, that usually means they're holding in some form of contempt or annoyance of sorts…"

"What!? Where could you possibly be getting that idea-" Neptune, immediately realizing what she was doing, looked down at her reflection in the bathwater. "Well I'll be damned that's one way break the ice…"

"No seriously Neppy, the body wash should be coming out, the bottle is clearly full. I don't understand-"

"Okay look, let me see it." Neptune, easing up to the newcomer and deciding to sit closer to her, grabbed the body wash bottle and examined it. "Ah, I see. The plastic seal hasn't even been taken off." Neptune took off lid and showed Plutia the plastic top. "Okay Plutia, you see this silver seal on the top of the bottle?"

"Yes…"

"Good, you see the small lip near on the edge of the seal?"

"Edge? But it's a circle…"

"That's not the point, you need to peel-"

*PHWOOSH*

Plutia's pressure that she applied to the bottle before Neptune opened it caused fountain of body wash to erupt from the bottle, directly entering her eyes and and burning her sockets. "AHHHH! OH GOD PLUTIA! WHY!"

"Aw geez, don't worry Neppy, I'll help you!" In an attempt to help the suffering CPU, Plutia grabbed a nearby bucket of water and dumped it on Neptune's face.

"AHHHH! THAT'S WORSE! THAT SCORCHING HOT WATER YOU DUNCE!"

"Oh crap, here!" Plutia then grabbed another bucket and chucked it at Neptune, hoping it was full of cold water. Instead, it was actually full of bathing supplies and Plutia just bruised Neptune's other eye with a flying bar of soap."

"YOU'RE NOT HELPING!" Neptune screamed in pain as

"I'm trying Neppy!" Plutia, scrambled around the bathhouse in a panic, luckily, she found a nearby sink with and cold water and shoved Neptune's face into it. "Don't worry Neppy, this cold water is going to patch you riiiiiiiiight uuuuuup.

"Arglblarghlarglrl" Is all that Neptune could muster out as Plutia drowned her in the cold water, only briefly pulling her head out for air.

Histoire, concerned by the immense ruckus peeked into the bath house to see the cause of the commotion. "Excuse me, is everything okay- oh my goodness!" Histoire watched in horror as she saw her CPU's head constantly dunked in and out of freezing water.

"Histoire please you have to- argleblar- stop her she's trying to- graglelargel-" Neptune couldn't finish her sentence as Plutia crudely dumped the CPUs head in and out of water.

Histoire was willing to stop Plutia from assaulting Neptune, but then she looked back at her desk and saw the hundreds upon thousands of paperwork that Neptune skipped out on and dropped onto her. "Eh… she'll be fine…" Histoire shrugged off the situation and left, leaving Neptune to Plutia's unintentional torment.

_~Planeptune Basilicom Kitchen, 12:30 PM~_

"Umm… Neppy?"

Neptune sat as far away from Plutia as she could in the dinner table, sitting diagonally and refusing to look as her at all cost.

"Neppy? Are you mad at me? Sorry about the body wash… I'll make sure to open the seal beforehand next time…"

But Neptune sat silently, holding an ice bag over her bruised eye, holding nothing but contempt for the girl that sat diagonally from her.

"Look, I'm sorry for smashing your face with a bar of soap and constantly dunking your head in freezing water, there's gotta be someway I can make up for it… right?"

Neptune, refused to reply, and continued to stare blankly into the ceiling.

"Well… look! I'll cook something for you!"

Neptune looked toward the girl with slight curiosity, but then continued to stay silent.

_~Planeptune Basilicom Kitchen, 1:00 PM~_

"Alright! I'm dooooooone!"

Neptune looked to her left to see Plutia in a messy apron with scorched oven mitts, she deduced that whatever she had cooked, took quite effort, possibly more than what Neptune had expected of her.

Plutia brought out a plate with a small mound-shaped pastry, alongside a singular kitchen fork.

Neptune seemed bewildered at first. Was this a prank? A secret weapon? Some unholy concoction? It had to have been, for what she saw before her was something she had never saw since her childhood. Pudding.

"Plutia… how did you make this?"

"Oh… I just um… I guess its just one of the few things my brain decided to remember."

"Right…"

Neptune took the fork and scooped into the caramel mix, taking a swift bite, hoping that the quicker she ate it, the faster the pain would go away. But to her surprise, it tasted rather blissful. In fact, it actually reminded her of her childhood, the earlier days when her mom and dad were happily together.

"Oh my god… its actually… actually… wait…"

It wouldn't be long for Neptune to realize that Plutia had inserted an extra ingredient into her pudding.

"Ummm Plu… plu… Plutia… did you put spices in this pudding?"

"Why yes! 48 grinded Carolina Reapers to be exact. I didn't want to make any generic pudding, so I added some spice. What better meal for a tough CPU than some tough spice? Though I'm pretty sure this is nothing to you, right?"

Neptune's entire body started to redden from pure heat, but she couldn't give in. She had her pride as a CPU to uphold, and she wouldn't be willing to let it go because of some dumb pepper. "I'm totally and completely fine Plutia! F-f-f—f-f-f fine and n-n-n-n-not in p-p-p-pain at a-a-a-all!"

"All right! I'm glad you liked it Neppy! Oh… why are you reddening up Neppy? Was it too hot for you?"

"N-n-N-n-n-N-n-n-O! Not at al-l-l-ll-l! I'm just u-u-uh, little flustered you know! I mean… it-t-t-t's very thoughtful of you to m-make me pudding, it was one of m-m-my favorite childhood snacks as a k-k-k-kid…"

"That's great to hear Neppy… wait, why are you tearing up?"

"Oh that? Those are… t-t-t-tears of j-j-joy haaa! Haaa!" Neptune couldn't take any more pain and rushed to the bathroom to rinse her mouth out."

"Oh? Silly me… I think embarrassed her too much."

Neptune washed out her mouth with extremely cold water, no different than the one Plutia had once dunked the CPUs head into. But the headstrong pain pounded through the CPU's head and throat, causing her to eventually pass out.

_~Neptune's room, 9:00 PM~_

Neptune woke up in a confused state, she swore she was last in the bathroom rinsing her mouth out, nut now she suddenly ended up on her... bed? "Woah, it's still only 9:00? That'll mess up my sleeping schedule…" Neptune exited her room to see Plutia sleeping softly on the couch in the kitchen.

Purple felt conflicted, she knew Plutia meant no real harm to her, but her clumsiness and overall ignorance made her quite the hassle for the CPU. But she couldn't simply forgo the kind gesture Plutia had returned. Neptune went up to the sleeping Plutia and wrapped a blanket around her, the sleeping girl snuggled warmly and smiled softly, and despite all the trouble she had caused her, Neptune couldn't help smile in return.

"Oh Plutia… what am I going to do with you?"

**To Be Continued**

**A.N: How's that for a start? Instead of trying to set up 50 gigjabillion plotlines I won't finish, I focused on developing a small set of characters. Hopefully I don't ditch this one as badly.**


	2. Chapter 2: Wind of Destruction

Chapter 2: Wind of Destruction

_~ June 25, 29XX, 10:00 AM, Virtua Forest~_

"ASIC, the Arfoire Syndicate of International Crime. Created not too long after the Dark CPU/Rei Ryghts incident, ASIC was formed as an insurrection hellbent on destroying all four countries while their governments were weakened and to establish a truly free Gamindustri without councils or CPUs. Fortunately, under an alliance formed: by Lastation, Leanbox, Lowee, and Planeptune, lead: by CPU Uranus and Uzume from Planeptune (The other countries had their CPUs killed) the militaries of all four countries struck directly at the heart of ASIC in the Gamindustri Graveyard (Coincidentally where the current console war between Leanbox and Lastation is taking place). In a long, brutal, and costly fight, ASIC's leaders were promptly killed and the organization as a whole was scattered across Gamindustri which then went into a long period of recovery afterwards."

"Oooooh, so that's who Histoire was talking about earlier… okay. Why did you sound like a story narrator while talking, Neppy?"

"Because the exposition was was already written and 90k9 was too much of a lazy runt change the dialogue to match my character. Geez, he just started his new story and already he's starting slack off."

"Umm… who?"

"Don't worry about it. Wait! Here we are."

Neptune and Plutia were walking through the woods on an extermination mission. 98 Tiamats, which normally wouldn't be in Virtua forest, and as such, has disrupted the ecosystem.

"Looks like its sleepy, what do we Neppy?"

"Well that just makes it easier." Neptune pulled out her handgun and walked up to the beast.

"Umm Neppy, is that going to be enough to kill it?"

"Of course! This handgun's got enough stopping power to knock out a a CPU like me!"

"You'd know?"

"I've had my low points." Neptune said rather casually.

"Uh… okay…"

When the CPU reached the head of the Tiamat, she shoved handgun into it's forehead and finished it off swiftly.

"Wow… that's quite the stopping power Neppy… where did you get that handgun?"

"Oh yeah my dad-" Neptune stopped herself before saying anything else, luckily, Plutia was quite a distance from Neptune and was unable to pick up anything the CPU had said.

"Umm… what Neppy?"

Neptune looked down at the handgun with remorse and contempt, "I made it myself" the CPU said with haste before holstering it back.

Plutia couldn't help but feel confused and decided not to continue pressing the question.

"Well Neppy that's 98th one, you ready to go back?"

"Oh yeah! Let my just call Histoire first-"

"Hey pal! Give me all your credits!"

Neptune turned around to see an ASIC member holding up Neptune by a knife. The mugger was a young adult wearing a mouse hoodie, a tube top, baggy pants, and boots. Her skin was unnaturally grey, and her hair was presumably dyed green.

"Umm, uh, okay. What are you doing?" Neptune felt more confused rather than threatened.

"You're getting mugged pal! Are you daft?"

"You're mugging people in broad daylight. In a forest. Am I supposed to be the dumb one here?"

"Hah! That's what dumbass city folk think, but really, mugging people in a forest means that I get to shakedown idiot adventurers who get tired after too much fighting, _and_ I get to avoid that CPU broad in the city!"

Neptune turned around to see Plutia give off a small giggle and turned back around to face the ASIC underling that crossed her. Neptune, considering the situation, couldn't help but also laugh right in the face of the mugger.

"W-what!? Is this a joke to you?!" Growing impatient, the mugger stabbed the knife into Neptune's should, the CPU stood upright and unphased. "What the hell!? Who are you- no wait! Don't tell me-"

A flash of light blinded the mugger and from it emerged Purple Heart, towering over the now-seemingly miniscule underling. Purple Heart ripped the knife from her shoulder and crushed it with her single hand, causing the mugger to fall down in fear. Neptune raised her closed fist over the mugger and dropped the pieces of the knife all over the underling. "Tell me, is _this_ a joke to you?"

"U-uh uh…" A puddle of piss started to form underneath the mugger, who now started to cry. "PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! I'LL DO ANYTHING?"

"Anything huh? What do you think Plutia?"

"I say we chain her in the basement and let her starve!"

"Nah, that'd take forever! And I have stuff down there! I'll just take her back to the Basilicom, interrogation will deal with her."

"Are they now?"

Neptune turned to her left to see another woman with Lilac skin and neon-pink twin tails, donning a business suit and an eyepatch over her right eye, slowly approach her. "Hey pal? This a friend of yours?"

"MAGY!" The underling ran toward the woman and hugged her tightly, the woman brushed her hand in across the underling's hair and smiled. "Geez Linda, what did I say about coming here all alone?"

"Uh… Neppy!" Plutia ran up to Purple Heart and held her tightly, as she realized they were getting surrounded by ASIC members.

Neptune scoffed at the group of people that surrounded her and Plutia. "Okay lass, what are you trying to pull here?"

The woman didn't bother responding, she simply pulled out a crossed red shape and pressed it lightly, causing a small surge of energy to pulse from it. Suddenly, Neptune's HDD simply disappeared, and she regressed back into her human form.

"What the hell?!" Neptune tried to reactivate her HDD, only for nothing to happen.

The woman simply picked up Linda with her two hands and signaled the rest to attack, walking away with a smug smile on her face. "The name's **CFW Magic**"

"Plutia! Run!" Neptune pulled out her handgun and shot one the attackers in the head, bursting through the skull and causing two flaps of flesh to swing about. The other attackers were put aback but then decided to push forward. Neptune continued to fire shots only for the attackers to keep pressing. When the CPU found herself overwhelmed, she pulled out her katana and seamlessly cut away at the attackers, slicing away at their necks and limbs. "What the hell is wrong with these people? They're just pressing on without reacting to any of my attacks!"

Soon, hundreds of underlings surrounded the CPU, the CPU started to feel like she was attacked by mindless drones instead of human thugs. After a long while of brutal hacking and slashing, the crowd dissipated.

"Son of a bitch…" Neptune thought to herself, she walked up to one of the dead thugs and pulled off their hood. "Constricted pupils… scratches across the face and skin…." Neptune pulled back on the sleeves and noticed pin marks near the bicep area, as well as marks of ropes, presumably to tighten and expose the veins. "Drug abuse, should've known…"

"Neppy!"

Neptune turned around to see an underling grabbing Plutia and using her as a human shield. Slowly the underling started to move backward, Neptune looked closer and realized that the underling's eyes were normal, and judging by the use of a human shield, the drugs must've lost its effect and the underling regained some form of self-preservation.

"Plutia!"

Neptune pulled out her handgun, but the underling had Plutia deep in a chokehold and a gun dug into her head. "An-any closer and I'll shoot!" The underling muttered out.

Neptune felt exhausted from her long fight with the drugged out goons. The extermination of the 98 Tiamats didn't exactly help with her strength either. But she had to save Plutia, taking her chance despite her shaking arm, she fired a shot.

A shot that only grazed the underlings face.

Panicked and mortified, the underling fired at Plutia's head. For a good moment, Neptune's heart stopped.

Only to regain its beat after realizing the bullet had no effect on Plutia, the shell simply bounced off the girl's skull like a tennis ball thrown against a concrete wall.

"Son of a bitch!" Neptune, while relieved that Plutia was unaffected, charged at the Underling and grabbed him by the neck. Without hesitation, Neptune dug her sword right into the thug's skull.

"Neppy… umm… I'm okay. Are you?"

Neptune stood back up and grabbed Plutia by the shoulder. "Don't… don't let that happen again… alright?"

Plutia nodded and caught Neptune just as she passed out.

_~Linda and CFW Magic, June 25, 29XX 9:00 PM, abandoned Planeptune factory~_

"T-thank y-you boss…" Linda, still shaken up by the encounter with Purple Heart, sat down timidly in an armchair inside CFW Magic's office. "I-I didn't know she was the friggin CPU of the damn country… how was I supposed to-"

"There's no need to cry about that now sweetheart. Okay? Besides, I got some good information about that drug I tested" Magic pulled out a tablet containing video information from camera's installed on the jackets of the drugged-out underlings. The drug lasted roughly 90 minutes."

"90 minutes? That's how long that dumb broad was fighting?"

"Indeed, 90 minutes after I sent them after Purple-Heart, one of the remaining underlings survived long enough for the drug to wear off. Unfortunately, he was most likely in an adrenaline-induced state, meaning we don't exactly know the genuine withdrawal effects of the drug. Nonetheless I'm afraid Purple Heart is going to be the least of our worries right about now…" Magic pulled out a remote that opened up a part of the wall that revealed a vast set of T.V screens, each showing footage from a camera that was planted in an underling's jacket. There were 15 screens, once for each ASIC underling participating in the mission.

"Woah! Wait… do you have one on me?" Underling grew red and embarrassed at the thought of CFW Magic looking at _ever_ything she did alone.

The ASIC crime lord simply smirked and pointed at the screen. "They're on a mission to retrieve some medical supplies from a supply train sent from Lowee."

"Medical supplies? You need them for the combat drugs?"

"Exactly, but I'm sure we most likely won't be getting those drugs tonight."

"Why not? The job looks like is doing great so far, and that CPU broad is probably tired for the rest of the day."

CFW used her remote to tap into the footage of some of the security cameras at the railway station where the medical supplies were being delivered.

"Why'd ya change the camera boss? Wouldn't you want to see things from their view?"

"Wait for it…" Magic started to grow excited and anxious. Her foot started to tap rapidly, and her fingers fidgeted around the remote and on the side of the armchair she sat on.

One of the ASIC thugs head's blasted open, the rest turned around in shock, dropping the supply boxes and scrambling for boxes.

"What the hell was that!?" Linda almost jumped out of her seat when she saw the underling drop dead with a deformed head. The lack of audio and the night vision cameras made the scene look like something straight out of a horror movie.

Another cracked open, the thugs started to grow even more terrified of the position they were in.

"This can't be that CPU broad can it? She'd be cutting them to bits by now! But it can't be Planeptune police… no one in the police is this competent!"

CFW Magic switched the camera back to jacket view, from there, they could see that the rail station was then closed completely, and all light was sealed from the outside.

"Magy… what the hell's going on? We gotta get them out of there!" Linda started to panic, thinking about the same situation happening to her.

"Those sniper shots aren't something some dime o dozen broad in the Planeptune military can pull of, especially in some concealed rail station. This is definitely _her_." CFW Magic tightened the grip on her remote almost breaking it at any second, and the tapping of her legs accelerated rapidly. The mixture of excitement and anxiety consumed CFW Magic, but perplexed Linda.

"Wait a second… that sniper took out the only two guys with guns…"

Soon, the lights to the station turned on, the ASIC crew grew relieved for a second, before suddenly, a knife darted across one camera and ended in the skull of another ASIC crew on another screen. All the Camera's focused in on one woman, with her hands in her blue trench coat, and her brunette hair flowing in the air-conditioned wind.

"Who is _that_!?" Linda couldn't help but feel surprised, this person that CFW Magic was so surprised for was simply just some normal woman.

"_That_… that is the **Wind of Destruction**…"

The woman charged at one of the thugs and tackled him, grabbing a knife from his jacket and throwing it at another thug, killing them instantly. The woman then brought up the man and used him as a human shield against two of the thugs that picked up the guns dropped by the first two sniped thugs.

The human shield absorbed bullets left and right, jittering and riddled by each metallic shell that entered its body. The woman then threw the corpse at one of the ranged thugs and grabbed the handgun from one of the goons she punched in the face. She then spun the handgun and used it as a battering weapon, she turned knocking back two goons onto the ground then kicking the one that she punched into the ground.

"Shit… this bitch knows what she's doing…"

The Wind of Destruction then pulled off the handgun's slide and use it to stab the goon that was kicked into the ground. The thug who had the human shield thrown at him got back up just in time for IF to pull him forward by his rifle, simultaneously taking it from him and putting him in a choke hold with it.

The rest of the thugs were too scared to approach the woman or even attempt to save their comrade, they simply made a break for the doors, which was locked ahead of time.

The brunette snapped her human shield's neck and suplexed him, allowing her to get into a prone position and cripple 8 of the fleeing goons. The rifle went dry and she threw it like a spear, impaling the last remaining runner through the heart.

"8 left huh? She's resourceful I tell you…" CFW Magic's anxiety dissipated and then turned into intrigue. Linda couldn't help but feel jealous by how much Magic was focusing on the Wind of Destruction instead of her.

The rest of the goons were crippled by the woman's shots, and no matter how hard they banged on the doors and gates, no one came to their aid. They were completely defenseless and had to fend off the Wind of the Destruction themselves.

One goon tried to throw in a punch at the brunette, only for her to grab his fist and snap it upwards, disabling his entire right arm, another tried to attack her from behind with a knife, lodging it into the woman's back.

"Oh shit! They got a hit on her!" Linda realized that the Wind of Destruction was entirely human, she couldn't tell if that was supposed to calm her or scare her even more.

The brunette kicked the stabber in the nuts and used the knife in her back to cut the throat of the guy who had his arm disabled, in the same knife swing, she turned around and planted the knife right into the the stabber's crotch, causing both CFW Magic and Linda to cringe.

"Jesus Christ she really doesn't hold back; does she not scare you Magy!?"

"Not. One. Bit." Magic merely smiled as she watched the brunette decimate her thugs.

IF pulled the knife back and threw it the last thug who was still banging on the gates and pleading for help.

"5 left…" Linda whispered to herself.

One of the goons with an iron pipe caught the brunette off guard and hit her on the side of the head, knocking her down for a good second, the attacker went in for a second swing only to be tripped by a sweeping kick. The Wind on Destruction then grabbed the iron pipe that fell and smashed in the head of the attacker.

The 4 that were left stood close to each other, realizing that attacking her one at a time was futile, all 4 of them charged at the same time, knocking her down again. The 4 attacked her with stomps and punches, repeatedly bruising the brunette. But the Wind of Destruction grew unphased, she grabbed one of the legs that was stomping on her with her arm and twisted it, knocking down one of the three. The intense snapping of the foot caused the other three to flinch and step back in fear. One of them ran off to find a weapon.

Two of the goons left standing engaged the brunette in a fist fight, their punches and kicks were expertly blocked and countered by the Wind of Destruction. She then dropped a quick and devastating kick into one of the assaulter, causing him to land face first. She then grabbed the other fighter and power bombed him into a nearby office booth. Grabbing a shard of glass, she shoved it into the goons mouth and constantly upper cut his chin repeatedly until a waterfall of blood erupted from his mouth, when she stepped out of the booth, the one goon who ran away came back with a hatchet.

Thinking fast, IF turned to her right and spotted a pencil on the office desk. She swiftly dodged the hatchet strike and dislocated the chargers arm, she then grabbed the pencil and stabbed it into the attacker's right eye, then his left eye, then his throat, then his heart, and then his crotch.

"Did-did she just friggin kill a guy with a pencil! A FRIGGEN PENICL!?"

The goon who got kicked down to the floor got back up and socked the exhausted Wind of the Destruction in the face and kicked her in the stomach, he then pounced on her with a barrage of rights and lefts. IF propped her knee up, spiking the attackers nuts. As the attacker screamed in agony on the floor, the Wind of Destruction picked him up and socked him in the throat over and over before throwing him into a medical box of scalpels. She then pushed the attacker aside and grabbed a scalpel, and proceeded to shove it down the attackers testicles, she repeated this at least fifty times and then fifty more times around the rest of the body.

"Well I'll be damned; she is one mean son of a bitch. Just as the rumors stated. " CFW Magic delightfully took a sip into a glass of wine as she casually watched her henchman become brutalized and ripped apart.

The Wind of destruction, exhausted, beaten, bruised, and injured, grabbed a thick medical field manual and walked up to the last ASIC good who had his foot twisted. The brunette turned the thug around and shoved the book down the thugs mouth, constantly punching it and breaking the attackers teeth. She then pulled the attackers head off the ground as blood gorged out from the attackers mouth, then finishing her off by planting the book upright and then planting the last goon's head on the top of the book, she elbowed into the thug's temple and snapped her neck into a solid 90 degree angle.

Linda was absolutely mortified. Magic was astounded. The attackers were absolutely annihilated.

"Wait a second… what's she doing?" Linda noticed that the Wind of Destruction was taking boxes out of the rail cart and sorting them out, taking inventory of the ones she needed and leaving behind the one's she didn't. "She's not securing the supplies?"

"Of course not dear! Did you think she worked for Planeptune's government?" CFW Magic seemed elated by the fact.

Linda couldn't help but feel confused for a second, but then realized what Magic's intentions were. "No…No! You aren't seriously planning on recruiting her? Are you?"

"Not just yet… one last test…" CFW Magic pulled out her tablet again, on screen was 15 meters, 4 of which were disabled. Magic pushed every remaining meter to its limit, ignoring the constant warning signs and flashing lights that told her to do otherwise.

"What the hell? Those dead guys are getting back up!" Linda couldn't help but feel even more confused and terrified. The 11 henchmen whose heads weren't destroyed had come back from the grave, there damaged bodies standing back up despite their contortions and injuries. They way the dead henchman came back was unnatural and horrific, as if they were being pulled up by strings from a puppeteer.

The Wind of Destruction looked confused for a second but didn't waste any time getting back into a fight. The brunette kicked down the henchman who had over a hundred scalpels lodged in him and pulled each knife from his body and threw it at another henchman, like pulling darts from a dartboard and throwing them at another.

To the brunette's surprise, the walking corpses of the dead henchmen were unaffected by the knives that were thrown into them. Confused, she took a look at the 4 henchmen who didn't get up and realized that all their brains were destroyed.

"Uh… boss! What the hell is happening?"

"I implanted remote drug stimulants into the henchman which I could activate remotely from here. I wanted to see if high dosages from the drugs could stimulate the nervous system enough to allow the body to move, despite the loss of motor functions. Think of it like a chicken running around with its head cut off, all that's left is nerves reacting and going haywire from shock.

Linda couldn't help but stand horrified by Magic's actions. She wasn't just playing with drugs; she was playing with the human consciousness itself. She was playing god.

"Of course it was voluntary. I gave these henchman an extra bonus if they consented to the drug implants and they approved. Don't get the wrong idea Linda, I'm not a monster who forces people to undergo life threatening experiences _without_ their own approval."

"Uh… right…" Linda no longer felt safe for the moment, she looked back up at the screens to see the Wind of Destruction bashing in the brains of the mindless drones with the iron pipe she used earlier. Her clothes were ripped and tattered. Deep cuts were laced around her chest and back. But despite her injuries, she continued to fight and persevere. Soon enough, all the "resurrected" goons were smashed into the ground. The Wind of Destruction collapsed against the wall for a couple seconds to relax and recover.

"Look Linda…" Magic pointed at the screen as the Wind of Destruction called in a self-driving car which broke through the gate and crushed a couple of the bodies. "She's stealing the medical supplies for herself!" Magic squirmed in gleefulness

"Why are you so excited by this psycho?"

"Because she's our ticket into killing Purple Heart!"

"What? Her? How?"

"Do you know why she's stealing those medical supplies? It's for the ghettos!"

"Ghettos, like where we are?"

"Exactly! She's likely bringing in those medical supplies to distribute them for free, probably out of the goodness of her heart or some schlock like that, anyways, if we help her distribute those supplies, she'll be on our side and willing to help us kill Purple Heart!"

"What makes you so sure she hates Purple Heart, let alone is able to kill her? I mean she can kick ass, but this is a CPU we're talking about."

"Because Purple Heart is nothing more than a puppet to Planeptune's government, a tool for them to enforce their policies. The ghettos are a result of the government skewing the distribution of wealth and creating a massive a gap in the class of citizens. They make up at least 60% of Planeptune's population, along with 28% of a middle class and the last 5% being the rich and wealthy. Neptune has no convictions, no personal stakes, no passion. She simply what she does under the guise of justice. Meanwhile the Wind of Destruction is a mere human but is has everything to lose. My scouts have reported that she's a volunteer at a clinic that distributes free medical services to those in need. In my eyes, the Wind of Destruction's conviction and determination can overcome Purple Heart's reign. And the ghettos will have a major role in that case."

"Is that case huh? I thought ghettos were just disposable ."

"No dear, you've got it _all_ wrong. The ghettos were created by the governments to provide little opportunities for low-income families in order to increase the amount of people willing to join the military! And the more military you have, the more demands for weapons are made! The upper class who runs the weapon productions, so like, basically 90% of the the 5%, get more money, and are building themselves up even more as the ghettos become overpopulated and give room for an even larger military for Planeptune. A military they can use to enter the console war with Lastation and Leanbox, who are at the brink of surrendering at any moment."

"Jeez, I knew our government was a bunch of assholes, but I didn't think they'd go that far. What does this have to do with Purple Heart?"

"If Purple Heart wasn't restricted by the council, she would be able to fix all of Planeptune and distribute the wealth among everyone! The ruling class would lose their fortunes and fall out of power while ghettos are reformed into proper citizens… but you and I know truth. The CPUs exist so the Government can enforce its tax laws among the lower class and give that money to weapons manufacturers and lobbyist. The illusion of democracy is nothing more than a well-oiled self-sustaining war economy."

"Huh… so the Wind of destruct- I'm sorry does she have an actual name? I'm kinda tired of repeating that, and it just kinda sounds weird to use in normal conversation."

"Oh yeah, I'm like 85% sure her name Is something like "IF" or something weird like that"

"Alright, so this IF, she's stealing medical supplies and distributing among the ghettos because us lower class folk can't afford medical care because the government imposes high taxes on us to supply weapon manufacturers to build them weapons and takes advantage of the lower class by drafting them into the military, making them cheap and disposable soldiers that can be replaced by the overpopulation issue. Is that what you're getting at?"

"Exactly!"

"I see… so why did you send a couple of our men to die when we could've had the negotiation instead.?"

Magic stood dumbfounded and embarrassed by the situation. "Uhh… you know… kinda have to know a person before talking to them-"

"You just wanted to see her kill people, didn't you?"

CFW Magic looked down in shame before nodding and admitting. "Yeah, I just wanted to see her kick her ass."

"Not like hiring people into ASIC is really that hard, the over population in the ghettos makes it real easy to hire people, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, but we still have to maintain our medical supplies… its really our only bargaining chip in these parts…"

Linda looked out the window to see the miles upon miles of land that was taken up by the lower class, and then she looked up a quite a bit to see the hill that overshadowed the ghettos, and at the very top of it was the basilicom, and at the very tip of that basilicom was Purple Heart herself sitting and sleeping comfortably in her room, delighting in unlimited meals and luxury, while the people below her suffer. "So when do we start talking with IF?" She asked with some anxiety.

"Soon, I need to find out more about her… until then, try not to mug any more CPUs in the forest, will you?"

"You're never going to stop reminding me of that, are you?"

_~June 26 29XX, Planeptune Clinic, 4:00 AM~_

IF drove up behind the clinic, two of the staff members nearby saw the injured woman exiting the car. As they ran to help her, IF threw the car keys to one of the staff members slumping onto the hood of the car. "Supplies are in the trunk… its for… **Compa**…" IF tried to push herself off the hood as blood smeared the sliver coat of the car. One of the staff members carried the inured girl toward the head nurse of the Clinic. IF was relieved to see the nurse waiting by the back exit the clinic, her peach hair glistened under the setting moon and flickering lights of the ghetto alleyway.

"Oh my goodness! Iffy! What happened to you!?"

IF slumped free from the staff members support and into the comforting arms and breast of the head nurse. Her wool shirt felt like a heavenly flowerbed that never withered. "We were running out of supplies… I made a risk, but I think it was worth it. Right Compa?"

Compa grabbed IF's back and was shocked by how much blood had rubbed off on her hand. "Everyone! I need a room! Now! Prep some sutures and disinfectants! Get me a 3 milligram dose of sedatives and some painkillers on standby! Hurry up everyone there's no time to waste!"

_~4:15 AM~_

Compa silently and sternly sewed up IF's cuts and applied disinfectant alcohol to the open wounds and pressed hard on them no matter how much IF whimpered in pain.

IF couldn't help but feel animosity building inside Compa toward her, she sat rather uncomfortably as she held an ice pack against some of her bruises. "Umm… Compa? Ouch! Um… you're not mad at me… are you?"

Compa abruptly stopped what she doing and slammed her suture kit against the metallic table next to her. IF jumped in shock, shock that would later dissipate in further guilt and shame.

"Tell me _Iffy_… where did you get those supplies… hmm?"

"Oh well… um… I drove up to the supply train depot and asked if they could spare anything for our clinic. Luckily there was a shipping mistake and they received more supplies than what was originally ordered."

"Oh _really? _Than tell me _Iffy_ how did this seemingly innocent exchange happen to result in you getting horribly injured like this? Hmm?!"

"Oh you know… the ghetto is pretty dangerous, I mean c'mon Compa, our line of work should show that already. As I was driving home, some thug assholes tried to jump and steal the supplies-"

"Stop bullshitting me IF."

The strict and instantaneous response from the head nurse shocked IF, realizing there was no way of getting past her, IF simply caved in and told the truth.

"*Sigh* I intercepted a supply rail cart coming in from Lowee. I hacked into the company's database and looked up the inventory that was arriving. It was everything we needed to keep the place up and running… so I decided to steal-"

Compa roughly grabbed IF by the hair at the mere mention of the word "steal". IF thought she was in for an earful, only to realize that Compa was wrapping a bandage around her forehead, still with a stern look on her face. "Continue…" the head nurse rigidly demanded.

"I decided to steal some supplies. I knocked out a few guards and kept them safe. I tried to hack into the security cameras, but it looked like they were already disabled. When I reached the cart, I noticed that some henchman from the ASIC organization had beat me to the punch. So… well… I did what I do best. Let's just say that I was a little sloppy in doing so."

Compa, who had finished treating IF, picked her up and stood her on the ground. She dusted the brunette off and stood her up straight. IF stood timid and scared of what Compa might do. Surprisingly, the nurse bent down the brunette's head, leaning her in closer for a kiss on the lips. But just before they could make contact, IF felt a strong and sudden smack across her face. Her head turned just enough to see the prominent red hand-mark in her reflection on the blood-stained surgery tray.

"What were you thinking you idiot!? Do you understand what this could mean? First off, now the clinic has to go underground in order to avoid detection by the authorities. It'd be pretty suspicious if some unknown clinic in Planeptune's ghettos just suddenly happened to have a rise in service mere hours after a huge raid on a medical supply line, don't you think!? Did you even think about what could happen now? What if you get arrested!? What if the Clinic gets shuts down? This isn't just your burden as well Iffy! _Everyone_ here is a stake!"

"Look, I understand that, but look! Most of these cabinets are empty! We have hundreds on our waiting list and no way in hell can take care of them all with what little we had. As risky as it was, we _needed_ this! Those supplies are used by the upper class near the basilicom while the rest of are left with nothing! We don't have a choice Compa!"

Before Compa could rebuttal, a nurse came into the room with pure bliss and gleefulness. "Ms. Compa! One of our critical child patients is starting to recover with the new supplies that came in! We all thought he was going to die a couple hours ago!"

Compa stood aback in shock but also relief. "Oh… oh that's absolutely wonderful… when do you think we can decommission him?"

"In a week, at most."

Compa turned back to IF, who was also sitting in relief, with a slight tint of smugness.

"Don't. You. Dare. Ever. Do. Something. Like. This. Again. Capisce?" Compa commanded.

"Yeah… I understand…"

"Good!" Compa said quietly as she pouted in front of the injured brunette. "You had me worried to death all night! Do you know how much sleep I lost because of you!?"

"I can make that up to you~" IF said sensually as she leaned next to Compa and rested her head onto the nurse's soft shoulders.

"You better…" Compa then left IF with a deep kiss before grabbing her by the hand and urging her toward her bedroom.

**To be continued.**

**A.N:**

**Yeah, I kinda based IF's fighting of of John wick.**

**I don't mean to spoil you guys, but I'm planning for everyone and everything introduced in this chapter to be the only thing I focus on for this entire act. I don't want too many sub plots and separate stories to manage. **

**See you in the next chapter~**


	3. Chapter 3: Judgments Past

Chapter 3: Judgements Past

_~June 25 29XX, 2:00 PM~_

"Ummm…. Histy? Is Neppy going to be okay? She's been passed out for a couple hours now…"

Plutia was resting her head on Neptune's lap, the CPU had slept – at least for what Plutia felt – for an eternity.

"She should… the fight you described shouldn't have brought down Neptune as much as it did… that weird crystal must have really done a number on her, didn't it? I'll contact the information guild."

"Umm… maybe… I think I'm going to go out for a bit…" Plutia stretched herself out and swung on her bag.

"You? In the city alone? I don't think so."

"Well Neppy is taking forever to wake up and I don't want to sit here doing nothing…"

"*Sigh* fine, but _you_ are responsible for everything that happens that you do out there, so you better not cause a mess, okay?"

"Okay Histyyy, I'll be gooood"

The eager narcoleptic slowly walked out of the basilicom, wandering aimlessly in the city streets of Planeptune.

"Goodness, what am I going to do with these two?"

_~August 8__th__ 28XX, 9:00 AM~_

A younger Neptune wandered around the halls of her Mansion, it was vast homestead, without a seemingly infinite number of rooms, and infinite number of passageways. The place was practically a maze. It wouldn't be long until the young CPU found herself lost, growing worried and anxious for her parents. With no one in sight, and no one to help comfort her, the young CPU slumped against the wall and began to cry.

But before her sobbing could continue, "Neptune! There you are! I've been worried sick for you!" Neptune's mom had found her weeping daughter. "I told your lousy father to keep an eye on you! He's so busy making with his stupid experiments he never spends time with bloody family!"

"Momma!" Neptune ran into the arms of her mother; the cold and empty hallways were immediately brightened by the sight of her warming mother.

"Its okay Neptune, mom's here to care of you…" Neptune's mom carried Neptune in front of her, allowing the young CPU to rest her head on her mother's shoulders. "I need to speak to your father, this unacceptable.

As her mother carried her across the halls, Neptune couldn't help but stare in awe at the size of her house, it was practically like its own city, filled with maids and servants as its residents. But the warm interior of the manor started to fade, as Neptune and her mom entered an elevator and went down. When the two reached their desired floor, Neptune found herself in a completely different area. The sleek and shiny walls of the manor were now replaced by solid concrete. The light that shined from the sun then seemed like a distant memory, as purple florescent lights seemed to be the only thing that made the room visible.

Upon entering an even larger room, Neptune saw her father busy at a bunch of computer screens. Among the digital screens were hundreds upon thousands of lines of code that were incomprehensible for the young CPU.

"Umio! What the hell did I say about watching Neptune!?" Neptune mom didn't hesitate to pull her father away from his computer screens, interrupting whatever discoveries he was happening upon.

"Uzume! She is not _my_ responsibility! I left her with the servants, take it up with them!"

"That's your daughter you dolt! Is this crap your doing more important than…-"

Neptune didn't want to listen to the ear-grating argument that her parents had started. She simply did what she always done at home and sat in the corner, willowing in sorrow as her family continued to rip itself apart.

_~ June 26 29XX, 12:00 PM ~_

Neptune lifted her eyelids. The last thing she remembered was passing out in Virtua forest into Plutia's arms. She felt relieved when she finally realized that she was back in the basilicom. Histoire hovered over the forwaken CPU.

"Good morning Neptune, you've finally woken up."

"Yeah, no shit. How long was I out?"

"A full day."

"Full day? Are you kidding me?"

Neptune reached for her phone which had its battery close to dead due to it not being charged for almost a full day. "Goddamn, you're right… well, nothing I can do about it now. What's for breakfast- err, lunch?"

"I'm afraid we'll have to hold off on that for now, there are more pressing matters to attend to."

"Oh yeah? Like what?" Neptune smugly scoffed.

"The council demands a meeting with you." Histoire showed no concern, emotion, or hesitation in her statement. The council had hijacked Histoire operating system.

"You guys? Geez… the hell did I do this time?"

_~ 6:00 PM, Council Room ~_

Neptune and Histoire walked toward the center stage of a wide auditorium. The place was a solid 30 miles underground and it was a couple hundred kilometers wide. Hundreds of Planeptune's government officials sat in judgement of the CPU, who – in appearance – contrasted greatly with her superiors. The sea of business suits and military uniforms made the casually clothed CPU catch eyes of suspicion and contempt. When the lights of the auditorium faded, five highly detailed holograms of Planeptune's logo appeared before the CPU, each a different color ( Red, Yellow, Purple, Pink, Blue ), representing each member of the council. One council member was placed in the middle of the stage, along with two on her left and two on her right. The three in the middle were female while the rightmost and leftmost members were male. The council members were also listed by number, the right most (from Neptune's view) being number 5 and the leftmost being number one.

The general of Planeptune's military walked in front of the holograms and performed Planeptune's natural salute, an upright stance, with one's left hand bawled into a fist and placed knuckles upward on their own heart and their right hand on their back, followed by: "All hail our glorious and democratic council!"

"All hail our glorious and democratic council!" the hundreds of Planeptune government officials, Histoire and Neptune repeated.

"At ease!" The general returned behind the stage as all the lights in the auditorium were turned off, only leaving the holograms of the council to light the room.

A microphone emerged from the table, and the rightmost council member began to speak. His voice sounded like a rather raspy, middle aged man. Someone you would hear announcing a military plan while killing his lungs with a cigar. "Neptune… its has come to the council's attention that your ability to maintain shares for Planeptune has stagnated if not downright regressed in the recent months, an all-time low considering your rather satisfactory portfolio. Perhaps you have a reason for such a situation, perhaps something we can help with or create a compromise…"

Neptune flicked her messy hair back and crossed her arms on the table. "First off, I'd just like to say that this whole aesthetic you got going on here is pretty impractical, I mean c'mon! An underground auditorium hundreds of kilometers wide, a large-ass auditorium bigger and wider than some of the damn buildings in Planeptune itself, and these ginormous holograms to display your raggedy asses. Please, there is no way this crap is cost efficient, let alone helping to "Maintain shares". Only a crappy writer like 90k9 would come up with crap like this.

"Silence! Your uncouth and rebellious nature may bring you favor among Planeptune's populous, but it will not act as a boon for any of us. We at the council have been democratically elected by Planeptune's people, the people who _you_ serve under, not the inverse. You will respect our authority, and show proper restraint in both you attitude, and your diction. Understood?" Yelled number 4.

"Whatever…" Neptune propped up her legs on the table. "Where was I… oh yeah! You know… maybe providing tax cuts for big budget corporations and financially crushing the lower class - you know, more than 60% of Planeptune's population – is probably going to help reduce people's faith in the nation, juuuuuust saying."

"Your cynical and pessimistic view of Planeptune as a country worries the council… we've placed faith in you as your combat abilities have shown exemplary feats and awarded you many accolades among the people and government, but your lack of tactfulness and optimism – we feel – to be a major liability to both the moral of Planeptune's people but also to integrity of the basilicom.

"Annnnnd completely ignore my statement about taxes, you sure there are humans inside those cases? I'm not talking to robots, am I?"

"Neptune!" 4 of the holograms decreased in size, the main leader of the council, number 3, rose prominently, almost touching Neptune. "Our tax cuts for corporations help them establish better working conditions and provide public services for the Planeptune's people! It's called trickle-down economics, and your lack of knowledge disturbs us."

"Better working conditions? Public services? Trickle Down economics? That's a load of dogshit." Neptune slammed her fist against the table, the government officials far behind her gasped at the CPU's very outrageous statements.

"Is that so? You propose that by taxing those who provide Planeptune security and defense of our country would vastly improve your retention of shares?"

Neptune stood up from her chair, without a hint of her typical sarcasm or zaniness: "Undoubtedly." Her voice and demeanor was almost that of a different person.

The hundreds of politicians and lobbyist that sat behind the CPU, frowned upon her. Soon, screams of rejection and disgust were thrown and slammed down at Neptune "Scandalous! Wrench! Harlot! Judas!" they yelled. These lobbyist were paid by corporations to promote lower tax laws for corporations and to push the financial burden upon the lower and middle class, the latter of which was slowly being dissolved into the former. If Neptune's ideas were exacted, the lobbyist would lose their "Influence" money and would have to get jobs that didn't involve licking the boots of the ruling class.

Neptune sat smugly in her chair, she had nothing to lose. The council couldn't replace her, at least not without much difficulty and devastating financial loss. "You guys can build as much of a military you want, but it won't matter, you could drop a rifle in the hands of every man, woman, and child in this country, and it'd be useless compared to a CPU at full strength. You think any amount of tanks and cannon fodder you throw at Noire and Vert is going to stop them?"

The council stood silent from Neptune's callout. They turned to each other for a good bit before looking back at Neptune. "The CPUs of the other countries are irrelevant. To fight other CPUs is to be _your_ job, maintaining and controlling land can only be done by an assertive and authoritative military."

"Assertive and authoritative? I think the cracks are starting to spill." Neptune then grabbed the mic on the table on jumped onto the table to look back at the lobbyist behind her. "None of ya'll care about a "Democratic" and "Glorious" country, you only caring about taking advantage of economic freedoms in order to monopolize and subjugate the lower class to pay for _your_ taxes."

Histoire sat dumbfounded by Neptune's outrageous actions. Half of her wanted to to knock out the near insane CPU, but the other half of her agreed. She had seen the ghettos, the terrible state of people, the rampant crime and poverty. But Neptune realistically couldn't do anything, if she went against the wishes of the council, her HDD would be revoked. Sure, could call them out on their egregious actions, but that was all that she could do. Like a soldier trapped in a cage, unable to fight his enemies that surrounded him.

_*RING*_

Histoire's tablet started to flash red "There's been a breach in Planeptune's outer wall! Hundreds of monsters have invaded and are creating chaos in the outer wall."

Neptune didn't waste any time activating her HDD and transforming into Purple Heart. "Well, you assholes can circle jerk about your bullshit policies all you want, I'm going to actually help the people of this country." She darted out of the room in a flash with her processor wings, and in a matter of minutes, she was in the battlefield.

The council turned to each other; they had their own plans instead.

"I believe its clear that we need a new source of management, we had taken in Neptune as our only choice left from Uzume's treachery, but now it seems she has her own agenda, separate to that of the will of Planeptune's democracy." Number 3 spoke with slight remorse.

"Not to worry mam, project NEPGEAR will surely be underway."


	4. Chapter 4: Rising Gear

Chapter 4: Rising Gears

_~ December 8__th__, 2899, 12:00PM ~_

Near the border of Leanbox, IF, a new recruit to Leanbox's defense force, and Lid, a hardened no-nonsense veteran were assigned to deal with a batch of illegal immigrants fleeing from Lastation's fascist rule. While IF wanted to deal with things peacefully and calmly, Lid had other intentions.

"Dammit Lid, what the hell are you doing!" IF had smacked away her comrades rifle. Lid didn't hesitate to kill a civilian refugee from Lastation, a young teenage girl who was defending her younger sisters.

Lid was a no-nonsense sort. If she wanted to get the job done, she'd do so quick and efficiently. She didn't care about the moral or ethical issues that she wrought about.

"They are a threat to our society and are most likely free loaders trying to take advantage of Leanbox's supplies and luxuries. We see this all the time in history. I won't let it happen in Leanbox." The blue haired psychopath brushed her hair back before turning to IF. "The world's not some fair _**Aeifu**_, sometimes people have to die, sometimes people have to suffer."

"What the hell gives you the right to kill those different from you!?" IF grabbed Lid by the collar and pulled her closer.

"Right? This isn't about rights Aeifu, this is about sending a message." Lid pushed IF away from her and turned to the rest of the immigrants. "You see your friend here?" *Bang* Lid shot another round into the dead Lastation immigrant in front of her family. "If we see your raggedy asses anywhere near the border of our goddamn country, you'll end up just like her, now FUCK OFF!" Lid shot open the other part of the tent, and then fired recklessly into the air to scare them off.

IF knelt down to the dead girl, next to her she found a pendant with the name "Deco" stained in blood. The blood of a young girl was on her hands.

_~June 26__th__ 29XX, 8:00 AM~_

IF opened her eyes, sunlight breached through the thin blinds of the nearby window. She was in bed, naked, next to Compa. She promptly got dressed and shook Compa gently to try and wake her up.

"Compa… wake up… the clinic's going to have to open soon…"

"Ehh…. Iffy… can you pick up some fruits and vegies for the kids?"

"Already? I just bought some last week!"

"The blackout knocked out the fridge for a full two days…. Everything got spoiled."

"Son of a-" IF held in her anger, as she didn't wish to shout at Compa who was still half asleep. "Those damn government bastards keep giving money to the fucking corporates, can't even spare _anything_ for us… can they? Fine, I'll go… take of everyone here alright, Compa?"

"I always do…"

IF kissed Compa on the cheek before putting on her blue trench coat. When she exited the clinic, the rising sun over the hundreds of dilapidated buildings in Planeptune flashed in her eyes before they could adjust to the change in light. The retired agent melancholically walked down the unkept and messy streets of Planeptune's outer ghetto. Cracks were littered all over the sidewalk, grass and weeds overgrew onto the sides of the road. The lamppost and streetlights abruptly turned off as the sun started to rise higher and higher. IF passed by a few houses that were completely abandoned and boarded up, she could make out a couple homeless people crowded inside, relying on makeshift lights and candles to stay warm.

When IF reached the nearest Nepu/Eleven, she walked in and was greeted by a flurry of cold air from the air conditioning. "Hey Iffy!" The woman at the cashier tiredly yawned.

"Mornin B-Sha" IF walked directly toward the fruit and vegetable isles and picked out what she usually bought. When she returned to the cashier, she reached into her pocket only to find that she had left her wallet at the clinic. "Son of a fucking bitch!" she yelled to herself.

"Whelp, sorry Iffy! I can hold these here so you can come back with your wallet."

"Yeah… fine." As IF walked out the store, she heard the footsteps of two masked assailants, male and female, armed with handguns. "Eh… that can't be good." IF sneaked back into the store and hid behind a row of groceries. The two were holding B-Sha at gunpoint as she was forced to empty out the cashier with what little she had that morning.

"If you don't have anything in the damn register, then empty out your own wallet!" One of the gunman demanded.

IF looked into the row of groceries in front of her and found a pretty solid apple.

B-Sha started to cry as her paycheck from last week was promptly taken from her.

"That's right! You better have enough to pay your _protection fees_ for-" The male gunman was knocked out cold.

"What the fu-" before the female gunman could even react, IF grabbed her pistol and used to it shoot out both of her kneecaps, then, IF pulled out her arm and snapped her elbow. Finally, IF picked up the robber and suplexed her into the window, breaking it and knocking her out as well.

IF dusted herself off, she took back B-Sha's money as well as the money that the assailants already had and gave it back to B-Sha. "I think that should cover the cost… right? Oh… sorry about the window…."

B-Sha didn't even bother checking if the money she got was enough to pay everything off, she simply thanked IF and gave her the groceries

"What the hell was that about_ protection fees?_"

"Oh… those guys?" B-Sha was still trying to regain her bearings after what had just occurred. "Those guys must be from that ASIC branch in Planeptune, some real crazy asshats. They've been going around the neighborhood recently, before they'd usually stray far from here, but now, I guess they're expanding. They're demanding some shop owners to hand over their money. If they don't… they'll just assault you and take _all_ your money."

"Shit… more crap to deal with. Anyways, I'd invest in your own protection, maybe a shotgun or something like that, alright?"

"I'll see what I can do, thanks Iffy!"

IF nodded and toward the exit, but before she left, she went back to the cashier and pulled a pack of cigarettes from the side.

"Oh yeah… you can take those…" B-Sha waved away, after a good while, she looked back down at the two unconscious criminals. "Geez, how am I going to clean this up?"

_~ Planeptune Outer Ghetto, 2:30 PM ~_

Plutia seemed to have wandered too far from the basilicom. The solid and well-maintained buildings near the basilicom seemed to have faded away, and instead, hundreds of worn-down, collapsing, and broken buildings surrounded the young girl. "Geez, Neppy should really take better care of this place, those meanies in the council can't be holding her back that much… right?"

As she walked further down the streets, the sidewalk became dirtier, trash started to pile up left and right. When she looked up, she saw a weather blimp in the air that had the time on an electronic screen on its side written out. "2:30 huh? I got 6 hours before the sun starts to set, maybe there's some people I can help." To her right were makeshift signs that pointed toward a clinic and requested volunteers. "Hmmm, maybe that could be a start."

When she reached the clinic, a peach-haired nurse in a wool sweater that exposed her shoulders was busy fixing a small child's twisted ankle through the frosted windows. "Now don't you go running in anymore abandoned buildings now, alright?"

"Yes Ms. Compa!" The kid leaped of the shelf when the nurse had finished mending his ankle.

"Oh hey. You here to volunteer?"

"Yeah… I saw your sign a couple streets back… uhm… I'm kinda new to this place."

Compa grew suspicious of the rather drowsy girl. "New here? You some humanitarian worker from Leanbox or something?"

"Oh no… umm… I was just passing through… and thought this place could use some help."

"Well, that's awfully thoughtful of you, what's your name?"

"It's Plutia."

Compa was still bewildered by the appearance of this seemingly foreign girl. The way she dressed was too nice to be someone native to the outer ghettos, but she definitely wasn't anyone associated with any federal government. The nurse needed all the help she could get, but she isn't naïve or careless, this Plutia was clearly an unusual person and she couldn't just let her wander around the clinic without supervision. "All right Plutia, tell me, do you have any medical experience?"

"Umm…. I think…"

"You think? That's not very reassuring."

"Well, a friend of mine says that I have umm… what was it called? Amnesia I think it was?"

"Amnesia? Look sweetheart, I don't want to be rude, but I can't afford to have any more liabilities here. There are hundreds of people on a waiting list and there are very few hands here, the last thing I need is for someone to screw up." Compa was stern and strict toward Plutia, who seemed felt rather put down by the nurse. Compa, realizing that she had obviously upset the girl, felt guilty. "All right, that was really rude of me, I'm just really on edge right now, especially after what my girlfriend did last night. I'm just… *sigh* just really spent."

"I'm sorry Compa, I guess I'll be taking my leave now." But before Plutia could leave, Compa immediately grabbed her by the arm. "Eh? Compa?"

"Look, I was being an asshole. I let myself lash out; can I at least make it up to you… I mean… Look! I'll buy you lunch!" Compa looked down at her watch and sighed with relief, she turned around and shouted toward the other nurses at work. "Hey everyone! I'm going to be on my break now!" The rest of the nurses waved away Compa and Plutia as they exited.

"Lunch huh? I actually haven't eaten since I got here, thanks Compa!"

"Yeah, yeah, don't mention it."

_~3:30~_

The two reached Nepu/Eleven. As they approached the store, the petite blonde cashier in her orange dress was placing in a new window, inside a bloodied window frame, which B-Sha had yet to clean up.

"B-Sha! What happened?"

"Oh this? Don't worry about it Compa, some bad bugs tried to rob the place, luckily IF was nearby and stopped them."

"Huh… so that's why Iffy had blood on her when she came home, wait a second! Did you give her those cigarettes!"

"Hey sister, I'm not just gonna tell off a lady who saved my paycheck and possibly my life because she wants to kill her own lungs." B-Sha shrugged off as she fixed the plastic window into place. "Oh! Who's your friend? Haven't seen her around?"

"Uhh this is Plutia, she wants to help out at the clinic, so I wanted to buy us a lunch and see if we could talk things over."

"Ah, I see. Well, thanks to your girlfriend, your meals are on the house, go take whatever you want, reasonably at least please."

The two sat atop an empty parking garage. "What's up with all these abandoned buildings? This just seems like kind of a waste of land" Plutia asked as she ate.

"From what I've heard - or at least what Iffy's told me, apparently _all_ of Planeptune used to be just like the basilicom and the area surrounding it. Until CPU Uzume went insane and started wrecking up the damn country. Ever since then, CPUs have been held with high contempt and CPU Purple Heart's been restricted to mostly labor work and hunting jobs, with the occasional paperwork and construction jobs. The CPUs been stripped of her political power, and instead, conglomerates of corporations and "Influenced" politicians determine who gets what in the country. Prioritizing the upper class and maintaining the luxuries and tax benefits insures that they always stay in power while us folk in the ghetto either work in their factories, resort to crime, or are drafted into the military." Compa finished her soda and carelessly tossed it off the side of the parking garage. "maintenance and care for the lower class seemed to have just faded away.

"That's sounds awful! Surely there's something we can do! Right?"

"Heh… you really are new to this place, aren't you? Anyways, let's get back to talking about the clinic, tell me Plutia, what would you saw your greatest strength is as a person?"

"Oooh? Am I being interviewed?"

"Not really since you aren't exactly getting paid."

"Okaaaaay, ummmmm, I'd say I'm really really tough!"

Compa chuckled, "Tough girl huh? You don't strike me as the weightlifting type."

"No not that, I actually took a bullet to the head recently, kinda weird feeling, but I turned out all right."

"What?"

"Oh yeah! So me and my friend Neppy were hunting out in Virtua Forest and we got jumped by some ASIC Meanies, one of them held me at gunpoint in front of Neppy, and then Neppy got really tired, so when she tried to shoot the guy who had me at gunpoint, she missed! So then the guy pulled the trigger, the bullet just bounced off my head, it didn't even leave a mark."

Compa couldn't believe what she was hearing, Plutia – to Compa at least – looked nothing of the sort of physical strength and durability, and there's was no chance in hell she could be a CPU. Right? "Well umm…. That's a very interesting story, hey, do you think you could help me with some lifting? A part of the clinic collapsed under debris, and we had a couple of supplies that got blocked from us, you think you could get that out of the way?"

"Well, it'd be worth a shot."

When the two exited the parking garage, a woman approached them from behind with a knife, demanding them for their money.

"All right you dumb broads! Hands up!"

Compa and Plutia darted around to see a grey-skinned girl in a hoodie holding them up at knife point.

"Hey! I remember you! You were that girl we met in the forest! You meanies hurt Neppy!"

"What the hell! You again! Well, at least you don't have your annoying CPU friend to cover your ass anymore! Now open you wallets!"

"*Cough* Ahem."

Linda turned around to see IF, the same woman who brutally killed more than 10 well trained ASIC thugs single handedly and killed them again when they came back psyched up on drugs.

"OH FUCK! FUCK! NOT YOU! OH MAN OH GOD OH FUCK!" Linda dropped her knife just as her heart dropped a beat and ran off far from the three girls.

"The hell was that?" Compa, who wasn't scared of Linda at all, crossed her arms and shrugged.

"ASIC probably, you alright babe?"

"Worry about yourself Iffy, you learn your lesson?" Compa seductively tip toed toward IF and leaned toward the her with a flirtatious smile.

"*Sigh* Yeah…"

"Good!" Compa's smile instantly changed into an assertive frown, "Because if I see you bring home another pack of cigarettes again, I'm kicking you out of the Clinic for a month!"

"Yeah, I got you…"

"Good!" Compa grabbed IF by the hand and turned back to Plutia.

"Plutia, this is IF. IF, this is Plutia, she'll be volunteering for the day."

"Nice to meet you Pluti-AHH!" IF shouted as Compa pulled her by the ear toward the clinic.

Plutia watched in bewilderment as the eccentric couple walked off. "Huh… so that's what its like to be in a relationship. Weeeeeeeeird."

_~ASIC Hideout C, 4:00 PM~_

"Boss! BOSS! Linda crashed into the hideout, sweating furiously. When she reached Magic's bedroom, she banged her fist against the door furiously, waking up her boss who was in the middle of a bubble bath. Distressed and annoyed, Magic emerged from her bath and went straight for the door.

Linda blushed in an aroused fright as she saw her boss who was also her crush – butt naked in front of her – albeit with a slight frown on her face.

"Well? What is it!?"

Linda could tell she was furious, "Umm…. Uh- I saw her! The wind bitch- whatever her name was! She was hanging out with the broad who runs the Clinic!"

"The Clinic huh?" Magic raised her hand under her mouth, thinking about the area. "I sent a couple of guys to scout that area, but they got knocked out while they tried to rob a store, must've been her. Well, there's no time to waste, well actually there's some time to waste." Magic looked toward Linda, who was trying to look away, but couldn't help peeking at Magic's naked body. "You look like a mess, we can both shower together to save time~" Magic, with a pulled Linda inside and locked the door shut.

_~ Clinic, 4:30 PM ~_

The three girls reached the back end of the clinic, there, Plutia saw a doorway blockaded by fallen debris from the ceiling.

"All right Plutia, here's the blockaded room, you think you can clear it?" Compa crossed her arms with suspense. "Just as my grandpa always said, if you can't solve your problems, just get a random stranger you pulled off the street to solve the for you!"

Plutia looked back in bewilderment again, "You people are weeeeeeeeird…"

"Her grandfather was a very eccentric man."

Plutia placed her fist in front of the door and readied it. "All right… here goes nothing." With a rapid punch against the collapsed concrete, a loud crash echoed throughout the clinic, and dust enveloped around the three girls as they were knocked backward against the wall behind them.

"*Cough Cough* Christ that was loud! Compa! Are you okay!?"

"Didn't I just tell you to worry about yourself? I'm fine."

"Sorry about thaaaaaaat, I guess I went a little bit too far…"

When the dust cleared, IF and Compa stood in awe as the concrete was smashed into bits. Piles of medical supplies that were once locked away were now free and available to the struggling clinic.

"Oh my god! Wait… if I do the math correctly…" Compa pulled out her tablet, "we should have enough to take care of everyone on the waiting list!"

IF leaned back into the wall with relief.

"Yiiiiippeeeeee! What does that mean?"

Compa pulled Plutia closer and hugged her tightly, IF smirked and was about to walk away before Compa pulled her by the collar and hugged her as well.

"Yaaaayyy, Group hug!" The three hugged each other tightly, as nurses nearby walked in with confused looks on their faces.

_~ Planeptune Basilicom ~_

Histoire was working in an underground lab under the auditorium, in front of her was a Planeptune's next CPU, a young female adult in a stasis chamber. "Production has finished, what are your orders, councilmen?"

Five lights behind the oracle shined brightly, the council looked down at Histoire, who submissively bowed down to her superior. "Greet our new CPU, have her accustomed to Planeptune ways. Soon, with her abilities, we will absorb _all _of Gamindustri! Under her undivided rule, the continent will rise under a truly glorious democracy."

Histoire nodded opened the chamber. Water spilled over the place as the girl fell down onto the cold metallic floor.

"Uh… who am I?" The girl was rather beautiful, as any CPU should be. She had long straight hair, and a single D-Pad on the left side of her head.

"You are Planeptune's new CPU. You are _**Nepgear**_" Histoire pulled up a towel and wrapped it over the new CPU.

"What the goodness!? Me? A CPU? CPU… what is that?"

"You are to be the next defender of our glorious nation Planeptune." The council appeared behind Histoire, their towering holograms frightening the new CPU.

"Who… who are you people…?"

"I am Histoire, your new Oracle. And these people are the council, Planeptune's government."

Nepgear stood up, wrapping the towel Histoire gave her around her body. "What am I to do, council?"

"Your creation is merely the beginning of project NEPGEAR, we require you to take care of a pesky thorn on our side. Your predecessor, Neptune."

Histoire looked down in guilt as the new CPU nodded. "It will be done."

**To be continued**


	5. Chapter 5: Infinite Factor

Chapter 5: Infinite Factor

_~ Compa's Clinic, June 26 29XX 5:00 PM ~_

Compa was in her office filing some paperwork, higher end hospitals could use advanced algorithms that could finish such work in seconds, but due to the clinic's state, everything had to be done manually. It was a tough job to manage, but she wanted to help people, she couldn't be at ease if she didn't.

"Compa!" One of the nurses shouted from outside the clinic. "Someone's here to see you!"

When Compa reached the front of the clinic, a familiar woman with grey skin and a mouse hoodie was was bowing down in an apology while another woman in lilac skin was tugging her by the ear.

"Uhh what is this?" Compa scratched her head in confusion

"Sorry to disturb you Ms. Compa, I'm CFW Magic, I believe my friend here crossed you a little while earlier, I must deeply apologize for that, same goes with the two men that raided the convenience store earlier. No ever seems to pay attention to my goddamn instructions! I'm trying to unite the ghettos! Not destroy them! Yeesh, Linda!" Magic pulled Linda by the ear causing her to stand up straight. "I want you to apologize for what you've done, alright?"

Linda turned around in tears to face CFW Magic. "I-I'm sorry for crossing-"

"Don't apologize to me you dolt! I let you shower with me only to realize you attempted to mug someone again! Look Ms. Compa in the eyes and apologize!"

Linda begrudgingly tilted her head towards Compa and bowed. "I'm sorry for crossing you Ms. Compa. I promise it won't happen again." Linda pointed to her left where boxes of medical supplies were stacked. "Please take this as form of repaying you for the damage we've done."

"Good. Ms. Compa, please take this." Magic handed the nurse a business card detailing her phone number and what ASIC was.

"Uh… thanks? Aren't you guys like criminals or something?" Compa said as she reluctantly took the card.

"I'd be lying if I said my past didn't involve some bad blood. But it was necessary in order to save this country. I'm sure you understand." Magic lowered her head in guilt as urged Magic to return to the car. "Oh, and one more thing Ms. Compa, would you happen to know where IF would happen to be?"

"IF huh? She's visiting the church a couple blocks from here; you really can't miss it."

Magic was surprised by Compa's willingness to respond. "Just like that? I was expecting some resentment from you."

"Eh, if you planned on harming Iffy, she'd probably just kill you." Compa smugly said smirking, before walking back into the clinic.

"Those two must be an odd Couple…" Linda whispered to herself

_~5:05~_

Linda was still crying as Magic drove down the streets without uttering a single word.

"*Sigh* Linda, I'm not _that_ mad at you. I'm just disappointed. Not just in you, but myself as well. I let you run loose for a while, and you get used to being loose. But when push comes to shove, I'm gonna need you to tighten it up sometimes alright?"

Linda wiped away her tears and straightened out her hoodie. "Sorry boss."

Magic stopped the car and parked it on the side of the road. "Linda… I don't want you to call me that anymore. Just call me… call me Magy like you always did when you were happy. Okay?"

"Umm okay… thanks bo- I mean Magy… "

Magic patted Linda on the head and then pulled her closer to hug her. "Don't worry about IF alright? I'll protect you."

_~ Outer Ghetto church, June 26 29XX 5:30 PM ~_

The East Dreamcaster Church. Once a colorful and lively church, now abandoned by its worshippers. The church once worshipped the goddess, Uzume Tennouboshi, but after the goddess was corrupted and consumed by chaos, she went rampant and wreaked havoc upon the very people she once vowed to protect. But the church still remains, its glass stained windows depicting the angelic orange-haired goddess continue to shine throughout the night. No one dared to pillage or vandalize the church, for fear that the Uzume would return and wreak havoc once again.

IF and Plutia walked inside, dust covering everything in sight, except for the glass stained windows, which were the only source of light for the dilapidated church. Dust swirled around the two girls as they made their way down the rusty stairs.

"Umm… IF, why are we here?" Plutia asked as she swept away dust that

"When I moved here from Leanbox, this was one of the first places I visited. The goddess at the time… Uzume… she was… beautiful…"

"Did you know her in person?"

"I only saw her in person once, as a child soldier…"

_~ Battle for Gamindustri's Graveyard, November 22, 2890, 4:30 PM ~_

It's weird honestly, I remember it so vividly. The generals of Planeptune had went had against the orders of our CPU and directly assaulted ASIC blindly, simply underestimating them as some dime a dozen terrorist group. Next thing we know… my battalion is surrounded in the middle of a canyon running out of supplies and dropping left and right. I was working an artillery cannon with other kids my age. Shit… I think I was at least like 9… or 10?

ASIC starts closing in on us, I'm hiding under the damn cannon to avoid being shot. One of my friends get her limbs ripped off and bleeds to death next to me. Another has a bullet go straight through his stomach, I think his intestines had spilled out, I couldn't really tell from all the chaos. I can still hear the screams of agony today, it's like time had never passed since then. After the screams stopped, ASIC soldiers came and check the bodies. Kids who tried to crawl away or surrendered were executed immediately. I had to lay down and play dead under that damn artillery cannon, though something inside me believed that I was done, that what I was doing was futile.

If it had been any longer, ASIC would have found me or just shot my dead body for the hell of it. But then… a flash of light lit up the night sky, followed by a crash that shattered heaven itself. I was still hiding underneath the cannon, but I remember cries of fear from ASIC shouting that "_She's_ here" followed by fighting that lasted for a good 7 minutes. In 7 minutes the ASIC forces that surrounded me were decimated.

"Are you still alive? They're gone now, you can get up from under that cannon now." She said to me.

When I emerged from the gore and carnage, she was right in front of me. Her luscious orange hair and sparkling blue eyes shined under the night sky, like the light of heaven itself. I fell into her arms and well… that's all I can remember. Next thing I know, I've woken up in Leanbox and that's where I'd be living for the next 15 years. She probably kept me there, so I'd be safe, you know how Planeptune is about their public reputation, probably didn't want me spilling the beans about their shitty military strategist.

I still wonder why she even bothered to save me that day.

_~ Dreamcaster Church, 5:35 ~_

"Iffy, why are you telling me this?"

IF turned around sternly and stared Plutia directly in the eye. "Plutia, when I saw you punch that debris open, I felt the same thing I felt when I first saw Uzume. So I want you to tell me the truth, and the truth only. Are you a CPU?"

Plutia scratched her head in confusion "Well… I'm not too sure myself. Neppy or Histy hasn't told me anything, and I can't remember anything for the life of me… if I was a CPU, I certainly wouldn't have lost my memory as badly as I did. What kind of CPU just up and loses her memory?"

IF pulled away her hand from her handgun and nodded. "Memory loss, huh? Sounds like a real pain."

"Well, Neppy and Histy have been helping me through the motions and all that… they've been a real great help no doubt about that."

"This Neppy and Histy… you're not referring to Neptune and Histoire are you?"

"Oh yeah, I am. You wanna meet them?"

"I'd rather die right now to the two idiots behind me than talk to that dumbass CPU."

"Huh?" Plutia looked behind IF to see Linda and Magic entering the church from behind them.

"If it isn't the wind of destruction! It's good to-"

Turning around in an instant, IF immediately pulled out her handgun and pulled the hammer right in front of Magic's forehead. "If you've come to kill me you should've done it while I was talking."

Without thinking, Linda shrieked and jumped right in front of Magic. "If you're gonna kill her you're gonna have to go through me!" Magic faintly smiled from Linda's rather brave, albeit idiotic decision.

IF put down her handgun and laughed, "The hell you guys want?"

"We have a job for you, we want to bring down Planeptune's current establishment, and we need your help. The working class is dissolving into a pit of beggars and cannon fodder for the government to use on their crusade against Leanbox and Lastation." Magic opened a briefcase showing a small vial and an injection needle next to it. "This is called the **Infinite Factor**, a hyper-compressed serum that can be remotely activated via nanomachines. The drug is so potent it can even activate the human body after bodily functions have stopped. I believe you've encountered this drug while you were umm…. 'working'…"

IF, angered, grabbed Magic by the collar and shoved her against a wall and pulled a knife from her leg boot. "How the hell do you now about _that_?"

"Whose men do you think you were killing?"

IF let go of Magic, still holding the knife in her hand, Linda stood in shock didn't want to risk either her or Magic dying from the one-woman killing machine standing in front of her.

"Here's the thing Ms. IF, I'm not the only one experimenting with this drug. At least I ask for consent when doing so. But the basilicom? Oh ho no. Tell me IF, have you noticed a large amount of people starting to go missing on the streets?"

"I have, I've upped the security on the clinic because of it. You trying to tell me the basilicom's been kidnapping its own people and using the Infinite Factor on them."

"My my, you catch on quickly. That's precisely the case, if we don't act soon, Planeptune's great "Democracy" is going to be run by martial law and military rule. Your clinic's going to have to hand over all your supplies to the state, and I'm most likely going to be arrested. We have a common interest Ms. IF. I want to protect my branch of ASIC and you want to protect your family. And the only way either of us can protect what we love, is to strike what endangers them first."

"We're talking about an entire military enhanced by super serum led by an Authoritarian AI hivemind disguising itself as a Democratic figure, against us, a couple of women and their cronies. I'm not seeing much of a chance here pal."

"Don't worry about the military, we can handle them, _your_ job is to kill Purple Heart."

"What!?" Plutia marched right in front of Magic, "You're not planning on hurting Neppy, are you!?"

Magic turned around to Linda who merely just shrugged in confusion. "Right, I didn't really even notice you. Who are you?"

"I'm Neptune's Friend!"

"Friend?" Magic scoffed "Friends? With a CPU? Absolute nonsense. CPUs aren't designed to be social; they aren't really even human. They are just a manifestation of shares created by the faiths of a country's populous. People don't dream of humans or leaders; they dream of gods and goddesses who will fix their problems without question. Luckily, the only source of shares these days if from the upper class. Meaning she is doing will of those looking down upon me and you. So I ask you "Neptune's friend" do you even exist in her eyes? Does Purple Heart even acknowledge your existence. Or did she just take you in as a liability-"

"That's enough." IF walked in front of Plutia before she could do anything drastic. "I don't like Purple Heart as much as the next miserable fucker living in the ghetto, but killing her is going to be drastic, I think the bigger issue is with the basilicom's army of soldiers fueled by the Infinite Factor. I'll help you take care of them any day, but Purple Heart's off the table."

"Hmph" Magic was clearly dissatisfied by the deal, but she wasn't exactly in the place to negotiate. Sooner or later, Planeptune will be a corporate military nation, a nation run by aristocrats and interest groups with the intent of expanding and imperializing upon the other countries. "It'll be interesting to work with you, miss IF."

"Whatever-"

*CRASH*

A roar and a crash was heard outside the church, the four girls ran out to see Planeptune's outer barrier breached by thousands of monsters. Vaders and inorganic beast clawed there way through outer security and citizens unfortunate to live near the border.

"The hell is this!? The border is supposed to be able to withstand this!" IF grabbed Plutia's hand and ran to the clinic. "Compa!"

"Magy! What do we do!?" Linda started to panic as usual and held on to Magic's arm.

"Gather everyone, we're going to evacuate the people and try to hold off the breach."

"Are you insane, we can't fight monsters! That a CPUs job!"

"If humanity is to progress beyond where we are now, we must rely on ourselves. No gods, no masters." CFW clenched her fist and summoned her scythe. "Stay here!"

"Wait! MAGY!" Linda stood in confusion as Magic ran toward the onslaught of beast, she didn't want to anger her any further, but she couldn't leave her alone to fight.

_~ Outer wall, 6:15 PM ~_

"Dammit! How the hell did this happen!?" Purple Heart was busy fighting off the endless horde of monsters that encroached on the Ghetto. "Shit, Histoire! Can you hear me!?" Despite essentially being a one man army, even she found herself starting to frail under the seemingly endless assault.

"Neptune! Are you okay? Why did you just run out like that!?"

"People's lives are in danger Histoire! I'm not going to deal with formalities with a bunch of old geezers just to do my damn job!"

"Neptune! The council demands that you return, back to the basilicom! They're is preparing our military to-"

"That's going to take too long! Can these assholes stop breathing down my neck!?"

"Neptune! If you continue to go against the wishes of the council, I can't guarantee you will keep your role as Planeptune's CPU, I beg of you, please come back."

"Histoire… you know the truth about me… I'm not a goddamn puppet. If there are lives, I need I can save, I'll fucking save them. And I couldn't give less of a damn what the council has to say about it."

"Neptune, think about this for a second-"

"No, there is no discussion here Histoire, I'm going to save my people, if you can't accept that, fine. The least you can do is start repairs on the wall, can you do that at least?"

"I haven't received any orders from the council to-"

"Think for yourself dammit! Who cares what the council demands!?"

"Neptune, what you are doing is borderline vigilantism. If you don't operate under borders and limits, what differentiates you from people like ASIC?"

"Differentiates? The difference between me and ASIC is that I stand up for people not as a business but as an obligation. I have the power to defend these power and I'm going to use it whether or not I'm told to!"

"… I see. I'm sorry Neptune, there is nothing I can do, may you have good fortune in your battle."

"Right…"

_~ Clinic, 6:20 ~_

"Compa! COMPA!" IF kicked open the door to find that the Clinic had long since been abandoned. "What the hell!?"

"IF!" B-Sha entered the clinic right behind the her. "Compa's ran off to outer wall to help out the people under attack, she ordered everyone at the clinic to evacuate further towards the basilicom!"

"Are you shitting me! Fuck!" IF took no time and ran back out toward the barrier.

"Wait, where are you going!?" B-Sha tried to grab IF's hand,

"Where do you think!? Take Plutia with you, I'll find Compa!" IF ran off before B-Sha could rebuttal.

"Well, looks like I'll have to go after her…"

"Why!?"

Plutia pointed toward the wall in the distance, B-Sha could barely make a purple light flashing and dashing across the wall. "Neppy's all alone out there and she needs my help. Sorry B-Sha, you should probably head back to the clinic now, okay?"

"Make sure IF comes out okay, alright? I still haven't fully repaid her…"

"Okay…" Plutia held up her dress as to not trip over it and ran after IF.

_~ Basilicom, 6:25 ~_

"It appears that Neptune has disobeyed the council once again, or at least that's what I've been told." Nepgear was suiting up in the Basilicom's armory. Since she was a new CPU, she didn't have a processor unit nor personalized weapons she handcrafted herself. "I've never had a sit down with this Neptune, nor do I really care to do so. She's a liability toward Planeptune's government. A liability I need to fix."

"Oh Neptune is rather the rebellious type; she doesn't understand the issues wrought by her rather outrageous nature." Histoire was fidgeting with her fingers nervously.

"That's the problem, from what I've heard from the council. Neptune's been a real pain. And the fact that she's left during a meeting and is using up the country's shares to fight these monsters without the consent of the council shows that she is a threat to Planeptune's democracy." Nepgear loaded an assault rifle and connected a blade under the barrel of it. "Interesting, my first job as a CPU is to kill my predecessor."

"Are you sure you want to do this Nepgear? I've argued with the council about this… killing Neptune would not provide any benefit for-"

"Are you disobeying the council Histoire? You know that's a criminal offense."

"No no no, I'm just considering possible alternatives. Solutions that could possibly bring everything to a positive outcome."

Nepgear paused as she was loading a magazine, "You really care for her, don't you? I don't know much about emotions like that. I was just born and… I don't really know what to think. I'm sorry Histoire, there's a job I've been told to do, and I need to do it. The council is what maintains Planeptune's democracy and order. If Neptune is against that, then she is against the will of the people."

"I see. Then there is nothing more I can do. I would wish upon you good fortunate, but I'd rather not lie to you."

"I wasn't asking for it."

_~ Outer wall, 7:00 ~_

"Compa! Where are you!?" IF ran around the outer wall, searching for her girlfriend. "Compa!"

"Iffy!" Compa screamed from the inside of a burning building. "Iffy! We're stuck, the door's been blockaded from the outside!"

"Shit!" IF tried to pull away the burning debris in front of the entrance, but the scorching heat burned her hands, causing her to fall back in pain. "No! I'm getting you out of the Compa! I'll-"

*Smash*

A crystal golem punched IF and launched her down the street, breaking one of her arms and knocking her down to the floor.

"Son of a *cough* bitch!" IF, despite her wounds, pushed herself back off the ground. "Bring it on fucker!" Using her only good arm, IF fired a couple round into the beast to no effect.

With a thunderous roar, the golem smashed down its fist, IF dodging it with ease and climbing up the beast arm and smashing a grenade into its skull. The beast flinched back and fell to the floor, still alive, but stunned.

IF, still in pain, crawled away toward the blockaded building and started to rip the debris away, scorching her hands painfully. Tearing away piece by piece, IF hands started to char up, right before she gave in, Compa, and the rest of the nurses inside managed to break through and carry out the injured citizens that were trapped inside..

"Iffy! Are you okay?" Compa brought up one of IF's hands, shocked by their mutilated state. "Stay calm Iffy, we're going to leave now-"

The crystal golem stood back up and jumped into the air, preparing a devastating crash on the fleeing citizens. But before it could harm the couple, Purple Heart dashed in and knocked him into the concrete.

"Get out of here! NOW!"

IF was in shock, she didn't think Purple Heart would actually show up and save them. Compa had to pull her away as Purple Heart fought off the beast.

"Alright bastard, you must be the big bastard leading the charge." Purple Heart mocked. The monsters numbers started to falter, and they started to retreat back into the woods that surrounded the nation.

Purple Heart charged at the beast and cut it open from the front. "Too easy…" Purple Heart finished off the beast with an uppercut, "Geez, people actually have trouble with these bozos?" The CPU laughed as she returned back to her human form.

"Neptune!"

The CPU turned around to see another girl uncannily similar to her. "Well, who are you hottie?"

Nepgear didn't bother reciprocating to Neptune's taunts, she immediately started to fire at her without question.

_~ Clinic, 7:10 ~_

Compa and the nurses following behind her successfully reached the clinic without any obstruction. IF and Compa looked in horror as the nurses carried in people who were mutilated and charred.

"How the hell did this happen!? the outer wall doesn't just break easily like that… you alright Compa?"

"Iffy, how many times do I have to tell you to worry about yourself… besides… look at you. I'm worried about your hands, looks like you were trying to cook that damn things."

"I mean you were stuck; I wasn't going to let you-"

Compa cut off IF mid-sentence and pulled her in closer, silencing the panicking brunette with a deep kiss, "Thank you Iffy…" she then let go of IF, she held a seductive smile toward her before pinching her check and walking off to help with the rest of the nurses.

"Compa… what would I do without you…"

_~ Outer wall, 7:15 ~_

"No chit-chat or monologue huh? Just getting right to the point huh?" Neptune dashed toward her with her katana and split her rifle in half, dashing right behind her. "Let me guess, Council wants to replace me?"

"You're a threat, nothing more." Nepgear pulled out a beam saber and clashed with Nepgear's blade. "Without the council, Planeptune cannot protect its people, let alone itself."

"You really believe that shit? Oh wait you would. Unlike me you're a goddamn tool, I can already tell."

Nepgear kicked Purple Heart away, knocking her back into the Crystal Golem's corpse. "If I have to be a tool, I will be a tool that protects our nation's democracy."

"A tool can't think for itself. I'd say that's pretty undemocratic."

"Your thoughts have threatened Planeptune as a country. Do you know how many shares you've consumed in this very battle? The shares the people have collected for you to do _their_ bidding, not your own. You are volatile, Neptune. You lack tact, and you lack awareness." Nepgear ran toward Neptune with her blade leaving a scorching trail behind her.

"Kid, you were just born." Neptune caught Nepgear's blade as she swung it down on her. Nepgear froze in shock as Neptune crushed her beam saber with her bare fist, the impact knocking her down to the floor. "Take a tip from your elders Nep Jr., you may have higher specs, higher combat potential, better armor, better weapons, maybe even a better HDD. But I will _always_ have more experience than you. And no amount of shilling for the council is going to buy you that."

"Nep Jr…? The hell do you think of me!?" Nepgear charged at Neptune with her broken sword, only to have her right arm cut off effortlessly by Neptune. The new CPU screamed in pain as blood poured from her open wound.

"Sorry kid, life's rough, I know that all too well. When I eventually wipe out the council, maybe you and I can settle this over a pint, ay?" Neptune patted Nepgear on the back as she left her bleeding on the concrete.

"I wouldn't get so cocky if I were you…" Neptune turned around to see Nepgear's I go pitch black, and she grew unphased by her arm wound.

"Great, you assholes…"

_~ Planeptune Basilicom. 7:10 ~_

Histoire and The Council were viewing the fight between Neptune and Nepgear from afar. They scanned every mistake Nepgear made and every advantage Neptune took. "It appears that a CPU with minor self-control is nothing more than a liability. Histoire! Insert the **New Age Infinite Factor**"

"But sirs! If Nepgear were to consume that drug in her state, it could lead to permanent brain damaged, please just bring her back to-"

"We will not ask again Histoire!" The council grew red with anger.

"Yes sirs…" Histoire took out a screen and begrudgingly input code that filled Nepgear with extreme doses of a New form of the infinite factor. The original infinite factor was used to strengthen normal troops, but with this new factor, CPUs themselves would find themselves strengthened through a drug-induced rage.

"Now Histoire, I want you to override Nepgear's body and place us in communications."

_~ Outer Wall 7:20 ~_

Nepgears body swung back up in the air like a lifeless puppet pulled by strings, her blood-smeared face was still as the council spoke through her body. "Neptune… your disobedience ends here." In a flash, Nepgear, consumed by the Infinite Factor, charge at Neptune. The CPU swung back with her sword, to no affect, the body was cut open but Nepgear moved unfettered.

"She's just like the ASIC goons in the forest. What the hell has the council been doing!"

Nepgear flailed her fist toward Neptune's face, devastatingly knocking her down to the floor.

"Histoire, activate Anti-Share blade." The council demanded.

But back in the basilicom, the Oracle Hesitated. The Anti-Share blade would remove her ability to access her HDD form. Possibly killing Neptune in the process. And even if it didn't Nepgear would surely finish the job.

"Histoire, if you continue to test our patience we will-"

"Share blade has been activated."

Back in the outer wall, Nepgear summoned blade from her wrist and jabbed it into Neptune's heart as she lifted her up in the air. "Your powers are now worthless, your entire being is worthless, scream in agony as your rebellious nature turns back unto you."

Neptune looked down with dread, her HDD memory was now in the hands of the council. She had no idea such technology existed, and now she payed for it. The sudden shock of having her HDD removed pinned her to the floor, barely able to move.

"Neptune… with your death, our democracy is ensured to save the continent of Gamindustri, consider yourself a steppingstone Neptune. A stone we very much need to leave behind."

Neptune used everything in her power to push herself back up, but it was worthless, Nepgear already had a handgun planted into the back of her head, and with the pull of a hammer and the pull of a trigger, Neptune realized that she had lost.

**To Be Continued**


	6. Chapter 6: Renewal Cacophony

Chapter 6: Renewal Cacophony

_~ Planeptune's Basilicom July 3__rd__ 29XX 7:20 AM ~_

When Nepgear woke up, Histoire was right at her side, sleeping softly and tugging at her sleeve. This sparked an odd feeling within Nepgear, she felt at peace, something she didn't know she could feel. Pulling off the IV tubes that were attached to her, she slightly nudged Histoire, urging her to wake up.

"Histy… what happened?"

The small oracle rubbed her eyes and brushed off her small clothes. "Nepgear, its good to see you're okay."

"I guess. What happened to not wishing me good fortune?"

"I didn't want you to kill Neptune, but I don't want you to get hurt either. You're still a CPU of Planeptune and thus I must take care of you." Histoire, using all her might, brought the CPU a glass of water to her.

Nepgear grabbed it with both her hands, realizing that one of her arms was mechanically replaced. A look of confusion drew across her face at first, then she remembered the fight between her and Neptune. "I lost that fight… I failed the council. I-"

"Don't worry about that anymore Nepgear. Neptune has already been killed."

"What? How?"

"The council activated a stimulant they implanted in your body during your birth. The New Age Infinite Factor. Not too dissimilar from the factor used in our military, but yours is specifically designed for CPUs. This factor increases your strength and resilience tenfold… and gives complete control of your body to the council…"

"What? This is nonsense, the council wouldn't-"

Histoire fled directly in front of Nepgear's face and stared her down. "Nepgear, everything the council has told you, everything pre-built in your memory are nothing more than lies."

"What the hell are you talking about!" Nepgear jumped out of her bed, and immediately put on her clothes. "Histoire, you must be malfunctioning, I'm going to bring you to the council for-"

"Have you never questioned the fact that you're a fully fledged CPU instead of a CPU candidate? Do you know why that is?"

"I just assumed I was already planned to take over Neptune's role."

No, far from it. Nepgear, you are a new type of CPU, one artificially made without shares. By all means, you are a machine… at least to the council. But you can be so much more! The council is only using you as a tool to oppress the people of Planeptune. But you can change that! You can-"

Before Nepgear could exit the room, Histoire shut the door and locked it tightly. "Nepgear… don't you have any respect for yourself? Your body was being used by the council! Do I have to drill it into your bloody head!? The council isn't Planeptune's true government, its-" But before Histoire could say any more, her closed and she abruptly shut off.

"Histoire? Are you okay?"

Nepgear picked up the small Oracle, and carried her outside, only to be met by two Planeptune soldiers. "Lady Nepgear, the council demands your presence."

"Right… I understand."

_~Council Auditorium 7:30 AM ~_

"Councilmen, you have requested me?" Nepgear bowed down to the five holograms, who looked down at her sternly.

"Histoire has malfunctioned and revealed some rather slanderous and false information. We wish to explain ourselves and reassure you that we are simply individuals who wish to maintain Planeptune's democracy and maintain power between man and CPU."

"I see… Histoire said something about some New Age Infinite Factor, I understand that our military uses an Infinite Factor stimulant for the military, but I was not aware I had one myself."

"Your New Age Factor was a failsafe designed by us to ensure you would not fall prey to enemy hands or turn on us, it's merely designed for the safety of Planeptune and its citizens."

"Why was I not aware of this option? And what's the point of making me a conscious being if you could simply control my body?" Nepgear started to grow skeptical of the council, she had done a quick read of the other countries of Gamindustri, and none of them had a council, she simply brushed it off as something exclusive to Planeptune's advanced nature.

"Miss Nepgear, we advise you to not push into such topics so brashly, your sole goal is to protect Planeptune, nothing more."

"I understand, I ask nothing more. Thank you for informing me of this Councilmen."

"Of course."

As Nepgear stood back up, she started to walk away, only to turn around rapidly and try to fire a shot at the council. Nepgear's body froze, she couldn't move a single muscle.

"Fuck…"

"I see that you have grown suspicious of us. It's a shame really, we were hoping to gain your trust naturally, and not have to resort to the New Age Infinite Factor. "

"Why!? Why was I created!"

"You were created in order to serve us, the council, without question. But it appears that is too much of us to ask. We're sorry Nepgear, but it has to be this way."

Nepgear felt her body start to tighten up. "I… I won't be controlled by you!" The New Age Infinite Factor crawled all around Nepgear's skin, but she knew that she had to resist it, if she were to find the truth.

"Its of no use to fight it Nepgear, the council will always stay in control of Planeptune. Democracy must prevail."

The tortured CPU fell to the floor, she tried to reach out to the council, a whimpering attempt to strike back, but she knew it was useless. "Histoire… I'm sorry."

_~ Clinic, 8:35 AM ~_

Compa and her band of volunteers and nurses were busy taking care of injured women and children inside of the Dreamcaster church. It had been a week since the wall was breached, while the government had sent soldiers to fix the wall, the did nothing about the tens of thousands of citizens who lives were destroyed by the assault.

"Compa…" IF hugged her girlfriend from behind. "You should get some rest babe; I can take care of things from here."

"Oh Iffy…. Worry about yourself-"

IF held Compa's hand tightly, cutting her sentence off. "Compa, I don't what I would've done if you had been trapped in the building for good. I mean… you keep telling me to worry about myself, but I can't just-"

"Iffy, remember when we first met in this very church?"

"Yeah, I came back to Planeptune after many years… you showed me around the place and offered me a home to stay in. In hindsight, that was a rather careless move on your end…"

"Maybe, but I can't just let people suffer if I have the ability to save them."

"Yeah… if the council had a fraction of the empathy you have, we wouldn't be in this mess."

The two sat down on a nearby pew silently, holding each other's hands as the injured citizens started to drift to sleep. IF's eyes started to close softly, as did Compa's.

"Citizens of Gamindustri!" Magic barged into the church, with Linda following right behind her short of breath. The sudden outburst woke up some of the sleeping citizens, they had faces of annoyance or just plain anger.

"Oh what the hell now?"

"For too long has the council oppressed the lower class, that day comes to an end, no longer will the council continue to support weapons manufacturers with tax reliefs while the lower class are subjected to insane taxing and little to no work opportunities! The council couldn't care less about us! The breach in the wall is proof that they don't care about the safety of us citizens. Now is the time we rise up and overthrow the basilicom!"

A couple of ASIC members wheeling in carts of guns and body armor entered the room. The citizens looked at each other skeptically, but then decided to stand up, despite their injuries, and arm up.

"You've gotta be kidding me… she's actually going to start a revolution." Compa

"Can't say I blame her; we've been knocked down for far too long. But chances are, we'd probably get wiped out. We may outnumber the military, but the council has us outgunned and they have the supplies of multi-billion dollar corporations on their side. It's going to be a bloodbath IF… and I need to be there…"

"Do we though…" IF held Compa's hand tightly "This country is a hell hole Compa, we can't keep wasting our lives here. We can go somewhere else, forget everyone here Compa! We can just-"

"Heeeeeey Ms. Compa, Neppy's awake!"

"What!?" IF looked at Compa who looked down with minor guilt. "She was lying there on the street; she saved our lives so it only right if I returned the favor…"

"Compa… you realize if that scummy CPU had an inch of a backbone, this whole situation wouldn't have happened in the first place."

"I know that! But why do we have to keep antagonizing her, if we can get her to help us instead of the council-"

"And what the hell makes you think she has gall to do that?"

"What's your problem with her IF? What the hell did she do to you?"

"You want to fucking know what that purple-haired cunt did?"

_~ East Dreamcaster church, January 14__th __2907, 5:30 AM ~_

I was acting as a pamphlet handler church, normal day, nothing much to worry about. Next thing I know, Planeptune police start crashing in, the church leaders are arrested and anyone who tried to revolt was beaten. Your typical pig shit. Apparently, since Uzume went insane, the church was now deemed "unfit for society" by the council. Purple Heart comes and walks right in. At the time, I didn't know jack shit about Purple Heart, she couldn't have been as great as Uzume anyway, but here… I was hoping she'd put an end to this nonsense, but then… she ends up killing the church leaders, no remorse or hesitation.

The next day, the council covers it up. Calls it a terrorist attack on the church and no one bats an eye. It didn't help that we were already seen as cultist by the general public. Ever since that day, I've despised Neptune. She's nothing more than a tool for the Council.

_~ Clinic, 8:40 AM ~_

"Neppy… killed people? That can't be right!" Plutia shook her head with confusion.

"You even sure that was her? That was a long time ago IF, that could've been any of the cronies that council had up their sleeve. Compa skeptically asserted.

"No. She's right. That was me."

The three girls darted around to see Neptune entering the room and untying the bandage around her head, revealing a scar from the bullet wound that Nepgear had lovingly left.

"I don't know how the hell I'm still alive. And my left ear keeps ringing like hell." The CPU rubbed her head into her palm grudgingly before sitting down and leaning against a stained glass window of Uzume. "You want to know why I killed those church leaders, IF? It's because they were planning an assault on the basilicom, and a useless one at that. Now I don't blame anyone for wanting to kill the council, but the idea is useless. The council is an AI, they are completely digital. An attack on the basilicom would be useless and innocent lives would just get caught up in the crossfire."

"That's bullshit!" IF enragedly walked toward Neptune and slammed her against the glass window behind her, cracking it and staining it with blood from Neptune's head.

"Iffy! Stop that!" Compa and Plutia tried to pull IF away only for her to push them back.

"Listen here you little shit! I don't care whatever bullshit you spew out. Those people were _your_ citizens. People _you_ should be protecting, but instead you're tied to the strings of that damn council.! Doing their every command!" IF punched Neptune with her right arm, causing her to spit blood all over IF. "You aren't a CPU! Uzume was a CPU. You're nothing more than a little shit who can't even fathom the idea of following in her footsteps!" IF then smashed in Neptune's stomach with even more devastating punches, causing the CPU to vomit even more blood. "Learn your goddamn place you sack of shit!" The brunette then let go of Neptune, dropping her below the stain glass window of Uzume, which was now cracked and covered with blood.

"Heh… I don't know where you get your idea of a CPU. Did you even know my mother? I don't blame you if you didn't know her personally. She was always moving around, never really having the time to sit down and get to know people." Neptune got back up and wiped away the blood from her mouth. "Funny thing is, she was actually quite a boring person. She would sit down, enjoy a good book or watch a movie, nothing really crazy. That was until, you know… she kinda went insane and killed a large portion of her country, ending the age of CPU rule and introducing the council."

Neptune's snide remark about the goddess angered IF, and she didn't hold back from pulling out her handgun and jabbing it right into Neptune's forehead. "What the hell would _you_ know about Uzume?"

Neptune grabbed the handgun and destroyed it with her bare hands, all its mechanical pieces falling to the floor. "What do I know about Uzume? I know one damn good thing about her. That she was my goddamn mother! Her downfall and the rise of the council destroyed whatever excuse of a childhood I had. I spent days a nights in the streets of other countries just to avoid being persecuted. It wouldn't be until later that the council agreed to hide my past from the public if I agreed to become CPU, I guess they were getting desperate at the time…"

"You? Uzume's daughter? What a crock of shit, CPUs can't have biological children, besides, Uzume would have never given birth to a worthless excuse of a person like you!"

"I wish she didn't."

The two stared at each other intensely, Compa and Plutia felt that at any moment, the two girls in front of them would have straight up killed each other. But before anything could happen, Planeptune Police broke into the church, with their guns drawn at all the citizens who were armed.

"Shit, they're already here! We need to hide!" Neptune grabbed Plutia and hid behind some curtains on the stage.

"IF!" The lead officer of the police force called out. "You are under arrest for the theft of federal medical supplies, you are to be tried in the court of the basilicom, come with us peacefully."

IF looked around and saw the citizens held at gunpoint, and that Magic and Linda were fully loaded and ready to unleash a flurry of rounds onto the police. Compa would be caught between the crossfire, and that was something IF could take zero chance of.

"Iffy… if you go, they'll execute you… Or worse!"

"Yeah… I know, Compa. But… I can't just let people suffer if I have the ability to save them. Besides Compa…" IF turned back to Compa with a soft smile on her face, a stark contrast to her demeanor in her argument against Neptune. "You should worry about yourself babe"

One of the police jabbed IF in the stomach and cuffed her without pause. Magic and Linda could only watch as she was taken away. Neptune couldn't risk having her cover blown either.

"Iffy!" Compa reached out for her, but Magic held her back. "She's made her choice Compa… we have to let her go."

The citizens and ASIC members stared at the police with disgust as she was carried out of the church.

_~ 9:40 AM ~_

After a long moment of silence, Compa finally approached Neptune. "Um Neppy? You said that you were born from Uzume… but nothing of that sort has ever been recorded in Gamindustri's history. How is that possible?"

"My father… he was a something of a mad scientist, not the evil type though… more of the… smooth talker you know, the kinda guy you'd sleep with even if you didn't need to curve your science grade to a 90%"

Compa looked back at Neptune with bewilderment, the nurse had her share with outrageous stories from all sorts of patients, but in a two sentences, Neptune managed to weird her out more than any crackhead that stumbled into the clinic.

"Well, something like that, anyway, he managed to create some sorta artificial womb for Uzume. You know the rest."

"Neptune… that certainly is a very interesting story, um… sorry, it's just kinda weird talking to a CPU and having her be so… err… casual."

"Eh, don't sweat it sugarchops, I've had weirder company than myself. There's this one girl who is a president of a literature club, and dude, she is _freaky_. I mean, I thought I was good a breaking the fourth wall, but she just straight up deletes neppas from existence. She real weird, and she aint even from this dimension!"

Compa started to regret sitting next to the CPU, but she was relieved to her in high spirits.

Meanwhile, Plutia was busy setting up water tanks for the citizens held up in the church and overheard a conversation between Linda and Magic.

"Hey uh Magy… are we going to be okay with IF being taken by the Council?"

"I won't lie to you Linda… I'm rather shaken by that as well. And obviously we can't just launch a full on assault on the basilicom to save her. We're just gonna have to hope that we can assemble everyone in the lower class to rebel against the council and their army of infinite factored soldiers."

"But what if its not enough Magy? What if… even with all the people in this country against the basilicom… what if its not enough to topple them down?"

"Linda." Magic held Linda by the waist and drew her closer. "Even if we lose this battle, we would've lost for freedom. Besides, I would never let you in harm's way."

"Magic…"

The two brought each other closer, their lips about to lock in love.

"EYYYYYY!" Neptune, who had been listening nearby, had jumped to surprise the couple, causing them to jump out of fear, Linda immediately hid behind Magic, as she shielded her from Neptune and instinctively drew her scythe out.

"What the hell is wrong with you Neptune!?" Linda shrieked as she tugged on Magic's sleeve from behind.

"Had we not been in a church, your neck would have surely been cut to ribbons."

"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about that, where did you get the sick ass scythe? I could use some craftmanship like that for some of my weapons."

"If you care so much, I made it…" Linda shyly said as she still hid behind Magic.

"Wow! Really! I never took you for the blacksmithing type Linda!"

"Not that its any of your business! You're a CPU! You've killed some of my friends you lunatic! Why the hell are you even talking to us?"

"Because I remember that nifty lil crystal you folks had, and I also happen to have another pesky little CPU that's gotten under my sleeve recently."

"I had heard rumors of Planeptune manufacturing a new CPU, but nothing substantial."

"Well it's true." Neptune revealed the scar she received from Nepgear. "Trust me, no ordinary monster would've gotten a number on me like this. The council has a new CPU named Nepgear, and she needs a proper ass-kicking."

"Well it wouldn't matter, if I infused your weapon with the anti-share crystal, you'd just hurt yourself by carrying the damn thing"

"Maybe, but If it's killing me, that means its also killing Nepgear. And that's all I need to do."

"The Anti-share crystal will slowly drain your strength until you nervous system ceases to function, death surely following soon after that."

"That just means I need to fight harder, nuff said"

"Magy, this broad's insane!"

"Maybe, but if what she says is true, then we will surely need to counter this… Nepgear. And the Anti-Crystal infused weapon wouldn't harm humans any different from a normal blade."

"Fine, I'll go help her if you want me to…"

Neptune brought out her katan and showed it to Linda, the two rambling to each other as they walked away.

"So ummmmm, Magic?"

"You talkin to me puffball?"

"Yeah um… are you and Linda dating?"

Magic gave a sort of an affectionate smirk before pulling out a handgun, under the barrel were the letters "A x M" which were roughly scribbled out, but still visible."

"Umm what's that…" Plutia asked as she looked down in confusion

"A broken promise…"

_~ December 1__st__ 2890, ~_

Me and Arfoire were almost an inseparable couple, we had been together during the creation of the original ASIC and we had toppled CPUs long before Uzume rose to power.

It was near the end of the battle in Gamindustri's graveyard. Defeat was inevitable for sure, Uzume and Uranus were closing in on us. During the war, me and our leader, Arfoire, we had made a pact to see this battle to the end, and to die in the name of freedom instead of submitting to our CPU masters.

And as the barriers were broken, and our forces collapsed one by one, I held onto Arfoire, hoping to live my last moments in the arms someone who cared from me, instead, she had shot me twice, once in the leg to ensure I couldn't escape, and one in the head. Unfortunately for her, she missed my brain and ended up shooting out my right eye.

She then strapped a bomb to my chest, due to the shock of being shock, I could barely move. Had Uzume not been there, the bomb would've gone off and killed everyone in the facility. And for some reason… Uzume saved my life. We were still mutual enemies, no doubt. But I guess even she could feel the pain and betrayal that had consumed me, and then decided to spare my life.

Arfoire and Uzume fought later, I managed to catch a glimpse of it. Arfoire didn't even attempt to fight valiantly or fairly, she simply used the anti-share crystal to deactivate Uzume's HDD and then bound her to the floor using nerve gas. But before she could killed her, I snuck into the room with a gas mask shot her in the back of the head with this very Handgun.

After that, I ran far away, never turning back, hoping I could leave ASIC and all the pain behind. But then… well you know the rest. The council came into power, and I needed to stand up against it. I banded together bunches of criminals and mercenaries in the hopes of toppling the very government ASIC once tried to prevent.

For a while, we crawled under the radar of Planeptune's council for a good while, managing to scrounge up left over weapons from Gamindustri's graveyard. That was when I first met Linda, such a naïve yet wholesome girl, well… wholesome wouldn't really cut it, _we_ are criminals after all. But there was still some sort of innocence and trust that I could make out behind that mouse hoodie.

And… whenever I saw Linda… I couldn't help but see myself. The same girl that so foolishly fell for a woman that never gave a damn about her. Ever since then, I've promised myself that I would never betray Linda, I wouldn't make the same mistake the Arfoire took when she left me to die.

_~ 9:45 ~_

"Truth is, I wouldn't be lying if she was a major part of the reason, I even bother fighting the council."

Magic looked back up to see Plutia, who had long since passed out and fell asleep on one of the church pews.

"Geez…"

_~ 10:00 AM ~_

Compa, Neptune, and Plutia all met up in the center of the church. Magic and Linda were busy elsewhere.

"Umm Neptune… why did you bring us here?"

"Simple! I'm going back home."

"What! We can't go back to the basilicom right now, that place is a hellhole for the both of us!"

"Nah, not that home. I mean my childhood home, the one where I was raised by Uzume herself.

"Wowww Neppy! How is it?"

"Probably dilapidated and collapsing the inside and just begging to die. Just like me! But that's beside the point, I'm pretty sure my father left something behind there, something that could destroy the council."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Well, the council was clearly gunning for his head, he must've thought of something beforehand, I mean… hell… this is the same guy fucked a CPU. Something to take down a corrupt AI can't be too far out of reach, right?"

Compa gave Neptune a bit of a concerned stare before looking back down at the travel supplies that Neptune packed. "Neptune! There's nothing but pudding in these bags!"

"Yup, that's all I need to live on"

"Did you forget that I kinda also need other things to survive? Where did you even get all the money to buy this anyway?"

B-Sha had entered the church, stammering around in search of Neptune.

"Hey Compa! Is there one named "Neptune" around here? Someone told I could find them here."

Compa pointed with her thumb in front of her at the hyper CPU that was already feasting on the packs of pudding

"Umm… excuse me miss Neptune, but your credit card was denied. You darted out of the store with all the pudding before I could even stop you!"

"Wait… Neptune, you bought all this with a credit card!" Compa grabbed Neptune by the shoulders already freaking out.

"Yeah, so what- oh fuck."

Nepgear burst in through the ceiling of the church, citizens screamed in terror as they limped away from the scene.

"All right!" Neptune took out her new katana, she could already feel her power start to drain due to the new blade, but Nepgear could sense the anti-share energy and stepped.

"What… what the hell is that sword?" Nepgear, who was still controlled by the council, felt her legs start to shake.

"What? Scared of a little rock or something?"

Before the two could fight, Plutia had picked up a church pew and tossed it at Nepgear. "Go on Neptune! Save your strength!"

"Plutia, we can't just-"

"Go and kick some ass Plutia!" Neptune waved off Plutia before running out of the church with Compa. Before Nepgear could chase after them, Plutia grabbed Nepgear and suplexed her into the more church pews.

As Neptune and Compa exited the church, B-Sha drove in front of the with her car, urging them to get in. "Where we headed Neptune?"

"North, hurry, I don't how long Plutia will be able to hold her off… we need to get back to my childhood manor. There might be something there than can be used to defeat the council"

"I see, I know you're a CPU and all, so… whatever you're doing must be important, don't tell me. I can't trust that I'll keep it a secret. Also…" B-Sha whipped out a lever shotgun from her seat. "I heard IF got taken by the police, it's a damn shame. I've overheard the Magic already planning to strike at some manufacturing facilities, most of them from pharmaceutical companies, why do you think that is?"

"Those guys are probably producing the Infinite Factor, it'd make sense why she'd wanna hit the spot first, she also might be able to grab some for her own cronies." Compa said panickily as she looked back to see bits and pieces of the church fall apart.

"I don't know how I feel about that. Magic and I have the same enemy, I just don't find the use of the infinite factor ethical, it seems like your stripping away a persons humanity for the sake of strength"

"Bold of you to assume the council ever saw humanity in anyone."

The three drove on for awhile until they saw Nepgear again, chasing them from behind.

"Shit… then Plutia must have…"

"B-Sha, stop the car, I'll fight her-"

"No can do Nepster! You're the only one who knows where the manor is, I can stall that girl for now anyways."

Compa looked back to see Nepgear with bloodstains on her clothes, and looked back at B-Sha, unlike Plutia who may have just been seriously injured, Compa knew that she would indefinitely die in a fight with the new CPU.

"Neptune, grab onto Compa, I'm going to drift and launch you guys out of the car-"

"Then you'll turn it around and ram it right back at her, right?"

"You catch on real quick Neptune; I might just give you a discount on your next purchase of pudding!"

"Thanks B-"

Neptune couldn't finish her thanks before Compa and her were launched out of the car, the latter being used as a shield for the former.

B-Sha turned the car right around and saw Nepgear running toward her on a steel bridge.

"All right B-Sha! Pedal to the metal." The store clerk, now certified badass, charged her vehicle directly at Nepgear, but CPU stood there, knowing she could take the blunt force of the vehicle.

Luckily, B-Sha drifted to the right of Nepgear and did a complete 180 with her car and jumped out of her car to lunge at Nepgear to toss both of them off the bridge and into the rapid stream below.

_~ 4:00 PM ~_

B-Sha woke up, washed out on a small shore. Her car, which also happened to have fell off the bridge, washed up next to her. "Well I'll be damned; didn't think I'd survive that."

"You won't."

Nepgear, from behind, kicked B-Sha over and held her up by the neck, choking her. "Do you realize that we can track their footprints through the forest?"

"Yeah, I know ya'll CPUs and your fancy schmancy gizmos and whatnots have the upper hand against a lil ol store clerk like me."

"Then why did you even bother fighting us?"

"Well, alone, obviously I can't do much against you. But hey, I stopped you for a good while and, hell I think I even left a scar on your cheek. Would you look at that? Think about you _council_ I was able to stop your precious little CPU here, all by myself. And there's an entire country of people like me out there. People who have been put down by your bullshit for years on end, people who are tired of doing nothing more than menial jobs that are worth nothing, an entire country ready to put you back into your place. What are you going to do then?"

Nepgear, still controlled by the council, didn't even bother to respond, and simply snapped her neck and threw B-Sha down the stream, her lifeless body floating away.

_~ Tennouboshi Manor, 5:30 PM ~_

"Neptune, why are we going down this cave?"

"Its where my house is, don't see what's so crazy about it."

"How the hell is your house a mansion in an underground cave?"

"My dad fucked a CPU, is it that hard to believe he built an underground house to live with her?"

"Are you just going to use that as an excuse whenever I find out some of the outrageous things your dad did?"

"You think this is bad? Try 147858"

"Umm, am I supposed to get that?"

"Nah, its for the readers, they'll understand it."

They finally reached a large dome underground, with portions of it missing or broken.

"That's your house?"

"That's just the outside, it supposed to be a large shield to protect the house from earthquakes, and falling rocks, but it also acts as a projection for the sky."

"Your dad built all this!?"

"Fucked a CPU. Remember that."

"I don't see how that equates to underground mansion!"

Neptune kicked open two blast doors, which hadn't been opened in years, surprisingly enough, on the inside the grass was greener than ever, and the sky was still as blue as any normal day, except for the parts of the dome that were missing or stopped functioning.

"This place… actually looks rather nice…" Compa's was shocked to see such lush fields and an open sky, a very juxtaposing scene compared to the very grey and drab life of the outer ghetto. She knelt down to feel some of the flowers and was shocked to see they were quite real. "This… this is incredible! I think they're… white roses?" Compa plucked a few flowers from the field and undid her hair tie, using it to create a makeshift bouquet of flowers. "Maybe I could give this to IF, assuming we both make it out of here alive."

Neptune still stood in the middle of the field, solemnly looking at the field, and at the destroyed house in the distance. "C'mon Compa, I think I know where to look."

The two reached an elevator, the same one Uzume once brought Neptune down many years ago.

"What do you thinks down here?"

"The last thing I remember him doing was experimenting on some of my mom's old equipment, it was a month after Mom went insane, maybe dad followed suit for that small time. He knew about the council, and he knew exactly what they were. An AI developed by Arfoire near the end of the battle for Gamindustri's Graveyard. It was a last ditch effort by Arfoire to form what she thought was an ideal democratic government. Some ASIC goons managed to infiltrate Planeptune's government and lobby for the AI to be put as some sort of balancing act. Mother going insane didn't exactly help oppose the idea…"

"She did quite a bang up job…"

"No doubt."

The two reached the lab and testing rooms, despite the very crumbling nature of the upper floors, the lower floors looked as it they had never been touched.

"Neptune, what's that?" Compa pointed toward a small table in the test room, a retro wristwatch.

"That's… that's my mother's wristwatch, she… that's the same one she used in the war I… I thought everything she had was destroyed…"

The moment Neptune lifted the watch from the table, an audio recording played immediately. "Neptune? Is that you? If not, then… umm… please leave this room. This wristwatch is clearly not meant for you. But… if it really is you. Then please, take this watch and upload it into Planeptune's digital archives. It contains a virus that can singlehandedly destroy the AI that ASIC has implanted into the basilicom. Once the council is destroyed, then your mother can truly be avenged, and you can finally be the CPU you were always meant to be."

Neptune stood silent for a moment, before sighing heavily and putting on the watch "Well, truth is I never wanted to be a CPU. I just wanted to be kid, to play videogames and relax, enjoying some pudding with friends. I never wanted to run an entire damn country… I never asked for this. But, now… now I realize that I never had a choice… I was destined for this. It's in my blood"

"Neptune!" Compa was held up in the air by Nepgear, clenching on the nurse's neck.

The CPU took no time and swung her Anti-Share blade as Nepgear, the three of them fell to the floor in excruciating pain.

"C'mon, just need to stop her before this damn sword kills me." Neptune used everything she had to push her body back up from the ground, just in time with Nepgear. When she tried to go for another swing, Nepgear jabbed her in the stomach and knocked away the sword.

The wristwatch was now exposed, and unprotected, and Nepgear smacked it, leaving a small crack on the old digital screen. "Don't! You mother fucker!" Neptune tried to push her back, but the Anti Share sword had greatly weakened Neptune, but Nepgear still had the New Age Factor to compensate for her lackluster shares.

Nepgear raised her fist for one last swoop to destroy the watch, only for Compa to jab the Neptune's sword straight through her back.

"Compa! Get Back!"

But it was too late, Nepgear ripped out the sword from her own body, thrust it back into Compa's stomach, blood seeping through her cotton sweater.

Neptune was consumed by dread, but then she remembered that the Nepgear was being controlled by the council. She then opened up the wristwatch, a small button was place on the side with the word "regicide" written on it.

Nepgear dropped Compa's body and headed straight for Neptune, who used the watch just in time to jam the link between her and the control of the council.

Suddenly, Nepgear start to vomit blood, the instant retraction of the New Age Infinite factor and the virus brought Nepgear to a violent stop, followed by uncontrollable seizing and convulsions.

Neptune crawled to Compa, who had pulled out the sword from her stomach, her blood forming a small puddle beneath her. "Neptune… or… hey… can I call you Nep-Nep? I think that's a pretty cute name…" Compa brought up her hand to Neptune's cheek, trying to feel for Neptune as her vision started to fade. 

"Compa! Dammit, there's still people waiting for you, IF's waiting for you! Why did you do that? I could've stopped her! I could've-"

"The watch was going to break Neptune… and I'm pretty damn sure you have no idea how to recreate it. Neptune, I don't want this to keep going on… this suffering… the suffering this council was wrought on us for so long. I don't like waking up and seeing the same grey buildings, the same dying people, the same dying country… It needs a new leader Neptune… we need a… new beginning."

Compa's hand went limp, and a tear flew down to mix in with the blood on Neptune's face. Looking back down at her watch, Neptune saw another function on her watch, a self-destruction timer for the entire manor.

It felt terrible for the CPU, terrible to carry Compa's lifeless body as she left the crumbling building, when she reached the field, the dome was already starting to collapse. The projected image of the sky started to shatter, bits and pieces of the dome crashed onto the flower bed. Neptune barely made it back before the entire dome collapsed on itself.

_~ Eastern Dreamcaster Church, basement. ~_

"Witnesses say that Plutia was knocked out by Nepgear and then taken by Planeptune police." Magic and Linda stood solemnly as Compa's body as placed in a coffin and sent to the cremation chamber. "Neptune… are you going to be okay?"

The depressed CPU was sitting down quietly fiddling with the white roses in her hand, and the hair tie that kept them together. "I was selfish… the truth is magic. The reason I never tried to stop the council is because I didn't care. To me, my life was meaningless. Doing meaningless work for corporates and the council, knowing there was no way out. Do you know why I like videogames and pudding so much Magic? Its not because they're what keeps me motivated, far from it. They were just vices to hide the fact that I've never truly been alive. I had known about dad's tech for a while, but I never thought it was even worth trying to stop the council. I never realized how many lives were being destroyed because of my apathy… if I had never met Plutia, god knows how long this would have continued… I mean, Compa… she was a nurse, she was saving people's lives, she was trying to help even though she knew that in the end that hope was truly bleak, but she saved them because she knew she could. And look at me… I have so much goddamn strength… yet I wasted it. I've wasted so goddamn much!"

Magic and Linda looked at each other with concern, they had no idea how to respond, they simply left quietly, hoping to leave Neptune alone peacefully.

Neptune looked at the white roses again, one petal had fallen to the floor.

**To Be Concluded**


	7. Chapter 7: Someday, Somewhere

Act Final

Chapter 7: Someday, Somewhere

_~ Planeptune Council July 5__th__ 29XX, 6:00 PM ~_

"How is it possible that Umio developed a weapon to destroy the council, how could this have been overlooked? Did we not send an assassin to that very place to stop this very thing from happening?"

"Sirs… there's been multiple attacks on our manufacturing facilities, especially on the facilities producing new Infinite Factor units." Histoire, who was no chained in front of the council, and tied to hundred CCTV cameras scattered t

"Send out the military, activate all Infinite Factor units upon deployment! Has there been any contact with Nepgear?"

"Negative, nothing has been seen of her signal for the past two days. Another squad of Factor soldiers have been wiped out."

"This is useless!" The council started to panic, for the first time in decades, they were under a real threat."

"Where is Neptune, she contains a weapon able to destroy, why are we not directing our forces on her"

"No that's pointless, we will know when Neptune will strike the basilicom, we need to focus our forces on maintaining our supply of Infinite Factors, those will allow us to maintain our-"

"Our military is worthless! We need to send out forces to retrieve lady Nepgear, she will be able to single handedly destroy these revolutionaries!"

The council continued to bicker against each other on and on. Little did they know, this infighting was the result of the virus Neptune had already planted, which they were unaware. Ironically enough, the council started to collapse by becoming a genuine democracy.

_~ Planeptune Streets, 6:15 PM~_

Thousands of citizens marched throughout the streets of Planeptune, destroying weapons manufacturing factories and raiding the homes of those who owned said factories, a rather drastic, if not extremist approach to the issue. Nonetheless, what goes around comes around. Such a situation was inevitable considering the state of Planeptune.

"I can't believe it Magy… we're… we're actually doing it!" Linda danced and pranced around as Magic sat blissfully content.

Neptune stood atop the roofs of Planeptune's skyscrapers solemnly, still holding Compa's hair tie.

The people of Planeptune overwhelmed the military by pure numbers and soon, they stormed into the basilicom.

_~ Planeptune holding cells ~ 6:30_

IF was ripped from her cell and brought to a singular table, on the other end, Plutia was there.

"The hell do you assholes want from us!?"

One of the guards grabbed pulled out a revolver, with one in the chamber, he slammed the gun onto the table and slid it toward IF

"Fucking assholes…" IF grabbed the revolver and pointed it at her own head, with luck, her end had been empty, the guards laughed and chuckled as the two girls in front of them suffered immensely.

"Alright Iffy… I guess its my turn…" Plutia pushed the revolver against head and pulled the trigger. A loud bang was heard and the guards that surrounded the two gasped. Luckily, Plutia, being who she is, the bullet merely bounced off her head, leaving the entire room to fetch for their rifles.

IF managed to grabbed one of the guards rifles as weapon and gunned down the entire room despite her malnourished and frail state. Plutia could barely move despite being rather strong Her lack of sleep from being tortured by the guards had caused her to lose most of energy, making her unable to fight.

"C'mon Plutia! We gotta move!" IF carried Plutia over her shoulder as the two limped their way out of the prison block.

"Well I'll be damned, you two are a sight for sore eyes." IF breathed a sigh of relief as Magic and Linda had broken in the prison sector.

"There's people raiding the entire area, it's insane! This actually happening IF, we're actually going to topple the council"

IF, who had been jailed for to days, was so far left out of the loop. "Hey guys… is Compa okay?"

Magic and Linda turned to each other, silent and remorseful.

IF, who was already in a terrible state at the time, denied the mere thought of Compa being killed, but then the idea started to swarm her mind. It wasn't entirely impossible, in fact. It was highly plausible. IF's terrible state, combined with the recent news had her overrun with stress, and ultimately, she passed out.

_~ Council Auditorium 6:35 ~_

Neptune slowly walked down the long walkway of the auditorium, the council, which was already started to glitching and fragmenting, continued rambling gibberish and noises. The virus had completely taken over, the council was by all means effectively worthless.

But Neptune didn't feel anything. She just stared blankly as the holograms in front of her started to contort and collapse on itself. Why was she so empty? The council had essentially been the source of her misery.

Neptune decided to sit down, cross legged, alone. Watching her for menaces fade away into nothingness. "Well, look who is still alive"

Nepgear, whose mechanical right arm had been destroyed, covered in bruises and wounds, limped down the long walkway, leaving a trail of blood behind her. Neptune looked to her and patted the concrete space next to her, urging Nepgear to sit next to her.

"Neptune… I remembered what the council did… how they took over my body, I'm… I'm a murderer. I-"

"Don't sweat it kid… I've done much worst."

Nepgear fells to her knees and looked up at the collapsing hologram, now starting to fade away. "Umm is she going to be okay?" Histoire was in the middle of the remains of the council, sleeping quietly.

"She's just asleep, I think killing the council freed her…"

"So… what were they?"

"Long story short, they were an AI"

"Ah I see…"

"You see Nepgear… it's weird. Usually anyone would be clamoring with joy and relief. The big baddie's gone, and we've won. But… I don't know. I just have… nothing…"

"I guess I can relate, I mean, I've existed for less than a month."

"Yeah… sorry about you orientation by the way… not exactly the best way of being introduced as a new CPU."

"I mean… I guess it was a nice way of telling me my physical limits, I'm still dumbfounded that I'm still alive even after having an entire dome crushed on top of me."

"Yeah… I was pretty shocked when I found out how much punishment I could take, it's crazy right. Its like, you look like a human, but you feel like… a… I don't what I feel like."

"Actually, going back a little bit, what the hell was that dome anyway?"

"My childhood home."

"Is that another shortened version of the story?"

"That's the only version…"

The two sat quietly, neither really had anything to say, they just wanted to sit quietly, as if they could be there for the rest of their lives.

Unfortunately, loose ends always need to be tied.

_~ Planeptune Archives 8:00 ~_

Neptune, Nepgear, regrouped with Plutia, and the three made their way below the auditorium.

The archives was what you'd normally expect, hundreds upon thousands of data stored in rows and columns of shelves.

"It's weird. Father told me that I needed to place the virus in the archives… but I used it on Nepgear, and it worked rather well."

"I guess I acted as short cut… I don't really see the issue here."

"Well, might as well check the archives for something maybe there's something here that's real fuuuuuuuuun."

"Hey Plutia, we're cool right? I mean, the whole me knocking you out and sending you to prison is-"

"Well Nepgear, I won't lie. That did make me really upset. But I remembered back when me and Neppy first met, when I squeezed a bottle of shampoo in her eyes and then hit her in the face with a bar of soap, it was kinda mean of me. But Neppy forgave me, but only after I made it up to her when I made pudding."

"So… what should I do to make up for it then?"

"I want food! And a bedtime story! Magic told me one once, it was actually kind of nice."

Neptune smirked when as she heard the exchange, it was then when it suddenly hit her. The reason she felt so empty was because she had lost her family. Plutia was a start, but now that she thought about it, Nepgear, and Histoire, they were now a part of a new beginning for her.

The three girls reached the middle of the archives, there, a circular terminal awaited them. When Neptune approached it, a hologram started to initialize, a hologram of Uzume.

Neptune's heart dropped immediately, how was this possible?

"M…mother!?"

"Neptune… honey…" Uzume's Orange hair and heavenly glow brought all three girls closer to her. "It's been too long, oh, if I wasn't stuck in this digital space, oh how much I would hug you right now!"

Plutia and Nepgear were dumbfounded, the woman they had heard so much about, was before them just like that.

"Mom I… I don't know what to say. Why the hell are you here?"

"Well, after my err… downfall, I decided to digitalize myself, convert my consciousness into digital coding. Hoping for the day that I would meet you again when you grew far older- oh. Honey, what's that on your wrist?"

"This? Its your wristwatch, what's wrong with it?"

"Oh nothing, that thing is just some old piece of junk, you can toss that away honey."

Neptune immediately gave the hologram a suspicious look. "Why…"

"Its worthless, what? Are you nostalgic or something?"

"No, dad modified this with a virus to kill the council… why do you want it to be destroyed?"

"The council's been destroyed! Wow that's crazy! I'm proud of you-"

"Answer the question."

"Well, it just reminds me of a really bad time in my life you know, with all the councils and insanity whatnot."

"Well, let me just input it into the archives and-"

"Hey honey! Have you tried out this new pudding recipe I brought up?"

Neptune paused for a moment, she thought about the situation for a good while. "Oh I get it now… oh it was so obvious how could I have missed this!?"

"Umm, darling are you okay?"

"Mom… you were the council the entire time, weren't you?"

"What!? That's insane, why would-"

"Tell me mother, why else would you have simply 'gone insane', Huh? I know exactly why, its because you couldn't give up your power, you knew when I was born, that I would end up being the superior CPU, one that would surpass you in every way. You didn't want to risk losing your power, that's why you had my dad assassinated, then you left your physical body to go insane to create public suspicion of CPUs, but when my HDD finally awakened, you would have me right around your fingertip, never letting go of me. To you, I was the perfect tool."

"Darling, this is insane! Why proof do you even have?"

"Proof? I think I have a hunch."

Neptune pointed the wristwatch at Plutia and activated it. Suddenly, hundreds upon thousands of memories flew through the girl's head. Memories of everything she had done.

"Oh my god!" Plutia started to cry horribly. "Neptune… I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!"

Uzume looked down at Plutia, then back at Neptune, her expression was a prime example of a gig that was 100% exposed.

"You used your own CPU candidate, Plutia, to kill your own husband in order to ensure he would never build weapons against you. When you thought Plutia's usefulness was done, you wiped away her memories and left her in the forest to rot, expecting her to die sooner or later.

"And then… when I started to go against your plans, you created Nepgear, a new type of CPUs that you could easily control. The perfect replacement."

"Neptune STOP THIS NOW!"

"But you had one oversight, you never knew about the wristwatch as it was locked behind the elevator, the elevator which was locked with my D.N.A or my dad, meaning you could never enter his lab and tamper with his experiments. A fatal mistake which would bite you in the ass for years to come."

"NEPTUNE!"

"You may be my mother, but I never had a true parent" Neptune flipped open the wristwatch and inserted it into the terminal, causing Uzume's digital image malfunction, her hologram now starting to glitch out and erase itself.

"NEPTUNE YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE SHIT! YOU WILL SUFFER THE SAME FATE AS I! YOUR REIGN WILL END JUST AS-" Uzume was cut off as the virus finished its course and destroyed the remains of Uzume once and for all.

Neptune looked back to see Plutia, still sobbing on the floor. "C'mon Plutia, I'm not mad at you."

"Are you sure Neppy? I did a terrible thing to you!"

"As did I…" Nepgear shamefully looked down as well.

"And I let this piece of shit 'mother' of mine let this country fester and rot in her own delusions. We're guilty and have done wrong, but now… now Planeptune is ours for us to rule."

Neptune reached out in the terminal; an HDD memory resided on the circular screen. The three CPUs reached out for it, unlocking their true power.

_~ Planeptune Basilicom, front entrance ~_

"What the hell!" Magic stepped back as three CPUs exited the basilicom.

"Citizens of Planeptune! Your suffering has come to an end!" From the right of the three girls stood Lilac Heart, the newly awakened form of Nepgear.

"Plutia… is that you…" IF, who had just woken up, finally realized that the council was gone, and that the CPUs had returned.

"Now, _**we**_ control this country. Not interest groups, not corporations nor will it be the council, but us, your rightful goddesses!" From the left of the girls stood Iris Heart the newly awakened form of Plutia.

Linda couldn't believe what she was seeing, she thought that Neptune would be the last of the CPUs.

Purple Heart stood, center of the CPUs, wielding a fist of steel "Attention, Planeptune! Hear my proclamation I am Neptune Tennouboshi, supreme goddess of Planeptune and your _only_ ruler! The council has ceased to exist, as a result of this, I am now in control of both the types of Infinite Factors, the production of weapons manufacturing, and two more goddesses who will obey my every whim! Even ASIC no longer possess the strength to oppose me now! If anyone dares to oppose my supreme authority, they shall know the devastating power of my new CPUs. Those who could oppose my godly rule no longer exist! Yes, from this day, from this _moment _forward, Planeptune belongs to _me!_ I, Neptune Tennouboshi demand of you: _Obey me, citizens! __**OBEY ME, PLANEPTUNE!**_"

_**~ Fin ~**_


End file.
